Enchanted
by Nature9000
Summary: After finding solace in a mystical town, Trina becomes charmed by the peace that remains there. When Tori comes looking for her, she finds something far more sinister, a town stuck in time and controlled by two sinister forces. Can Tori rescue her sister and make Trina remember who she is, and the memories locked away by the supernatural forces within the town?
1. Trade-Off

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: This will be a fun story, and an actor-connection tale too that was brought on by a recent nickelodeon movie. You'll notice it in this chapter, give it a chance and I know you'll enjoy this. This is also a fun sister-rescue tale which, though when I say "fun" I simply mean that I'm excited to write it and hope you'll enjoy the tale I'm about to weave.

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Chapter 1 (Trade-Off)

"I still can't believe you fell for him." Trina laughed at her friend's statement, her fingers hovered over the keys and she contemplated how to respond. "I guess that small town has quite a bit of enchanting people."

"You don't know the half of it," she typed. Trina swept her hair over her ear and smiled as she thought about her most recent adventure with Timmy. Ever since entering Dimmsdale, she'd been charmed by the town's many spectacles. "He's a bit of a man-child, but he's actually got a job now…even if it is kind of odd."

"What does he do?"

"I um, I can't really say." It wasn't that she didn't know what the job was, but she couldn't divulge that information. Tootie hardly knew what Timmy's big secret was. "I could stay here forever, you know. How do you like Los Angeles?"

"You're charmed by that town, and I'm enchanted by LA." She and Tootie met one summer several years ago, they had different families and weren't related by blood, but they looked almost exactly alike.

Both of them had grown tired with the lives they were living, and both had families that were too busy to pay all that much attention to them, so they decided to switch things up. This idea came when they were discussing who had the worse luck, and Trina said she could likely take on Tootie's life but the girl couldn't handle hers. As fate would have it, the change was easy and they fell in love with the other life.

"I still can't believe no one noticed. It's been what, a couple years now?" They didn't stay constantly. At first it was during the summer, then it was every few months, but the more recent switch was in 2011 when Trina returned to Dimmsdale.

When she fell for Timmy, as childish as he was, she didn't want to leave. Tootie agreed to stay in LA. Of course, eventually the truth would have to come out, but both girls were afraid of what could happen then.

"You think we're ready to make it official?" Tootie asked. Trina's lip tucked under her teeth and she glanced across the room. "I mean we can legally change our names and all that. The Vegas still haven't noticed that I'm not really you, and you say my family hasn't noticed. Have you told Timmy the truth yet?"

"I'm afraid to." They agreed long ago never to divulge that information, but she needed to tell Timmy, and Tootie understood. The problem with telling him was not knowing whether he'd accept her or not. "As for your family, I think your sister might know."

"Vicky? Hell she pays less attention to me than Tori pays to you."

"Yeah but I used to be on good terms with Tori growing up, you weren't on good terms with Vicky. That's the difference." It was strange to say that Tori was her first love, but when saying that, she didn't mean it in the romantic sense. That much was obvious. She meant it in the sense that before Hollywood Arts, they did everything together like normal sisters.

Whether it was chasing each other on the playground at the park, or rolling their eyes and making fun of their grandmother during the woman's vocal lessons growing up, Tori was her best friend.

This was something she had to consider when she decided to switch lives with Tootie. Granted Tori's friends and the school's constant demand for Tori's attention made the decision easy. She missed her sister, but her life the last couple of years had been the happiest time of her life, and she didn't feel like trading that back just to watch her sister ignore her again.

"I do miss Tori, but like I said, even when I'm there it's like she's not there. So, I end up missing her anyway. But, I love Timmy, and I'm kind of enjoying your family, to tell the truth." Tootie's parents were good people, they weren't always busy like David and Holly, despite both having serious jobs as a Lawyer and a Doctor. "Family game night is a blast, and then we'll watch movies and just talk about random stuff."

"Strange, they weren't like that when I was around. They never had time for us, period, and Vicky kind of ran the place. But then, the way you talk about your family, they seem almost different…maybe it's just that we're looking at it through different eyes and comparing them to our own."

"The whole 'grass is always greener' thing?"

"Yes."

"I don't want to go back to them. You don't want to come back to Dimmsdale, do you?"

"God no, but I will if you want. Still, everything with Timmy? You've made a life for yourself there, one that I can't really do. Whether or not you ever decide to make this a permanent arrangement, you absolutely have to tell Timmy the truth."

"I know."

"Look Trina. I remember him from when we were kids. He's a good guy, he'll accept you, especially since everything you did with him wasn't you pretending to be me-it was you being you."

Part of her felt guilty for deceiving both families in this way, but the fact of the matter was, nobody seemed to care enough on either sides. This was truly a match made in heaven for them. "As for our families, do you think what we've done is wrong?"

"I don't know. I mean they say you can't choose your family, but the same people also say family drifts apart. I miss my family too, but your family's great." She felt the same way, although Vicky didn't talk to her much. It was as though the girl knew something was up.

If anything, it would have to be mannerisms, but both girls could explain a change in mannerisms from the camp they'd met at. Both also made sure to study the essentials of the other's life and past, just in case. That came in handy when Vicky started asking a bunch of questions regarding Tootie's life.

With Timmy on her mind, Trina couldn't help but to want to live life selfishly. For once she had a man that cared about her, even if he was a tad childish, and she didn't have to worry about lackluster parents or a sister with friends that left her feeling jealous and miserable.

If she had to be brutally honest, she didn't think there was much she was giving up. Tootie's offer to make the trade-off permanent and take these families as their own was a tempting one. Still, she needed time to make that decision.

The next morning she made her way through the streets of Dimmsdale, still thinking about her friend's offer while also admiring the town. "I don't know why I've never heard of this town." The oddities that made this town so charming were numerous, including the two 'friends' that Timmy had.

These things never existed outside of Dimmsdale, and that was what was remarkable. Though, now that Timmy was starting to live a more normal lifestyle, his friends were able to go off and do their own thing, but they showed up every now and then in their full human form, just to make sure she was comfortable with their presence.

These "fairies" seemed more like spirits to her, or guardian angels, but she couldn't explain them and stopped trying after some time. Whatever they were, Timmy's old teacher hated them for some peculiar reason.

They made life a little more bearable, though, and of course they aided in her relationship with Timmy. Granted, much of it she'd rather him do on his own, and he was beginning to. Slowly but surely, he was relying on reality more than help from the unexplainable source.

"Good luck explaining that one to Tootie." Trina swept her bangs from her forehead and sighed as her heart began to pound at a familiar tune. A street vendor had the radio on a California news station. The news reporter was at Hollywood Arts, and several students were taking part in a talent show.

Among these was Tori, singing _Say Something._ Trina walked towards the radio and leaned against a pole, smiling as Tori's words drifted to her ears. She closed her eyes and began to mouth the words of the song, then let the words form and drift from her lips.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you…I'll be the one if you want me to."

_"Anywhere I would have followed you." _Tori's voice bellowed, striking tears from Trina's eyes. She cleared her throat and shook away her tears while lamenting over the strangeness in choice that her sister sang.

"That girl's got quite the voice." Trina flinched and looked over her shoulder, smiling when she saw Timmy standing nearby. He spread his arms out and grinned at her. "It's a beautiful morning isn't it?"

"Yeah." She wiped her eyes and looked to the sky. The wind was blowing and the leaves on the trees were shimmering in the sunlight. "I um, I have a question."

"Oh?" He lowered his hands and stepped closer to her. "What is it? Is everything okay?"

"I just, I was wondering." She tapped her fingers together and slid her lower lip under her teeth while bouncing on her heels. Her nerves were beginning to eat away at her, so she fought them down before they could silence her. "If I…If you loved someone, and they turned out not to be who they said they were, but everything they do and say is exactly how they are, what would you say?"

Timmy scratched the back of his head and let out a light chuckle. "If their personality was their own, and all that, then yeah. I suppose I could accept that." She swayed forward, breathing in with newfound confidence. "Are you trying to say that you're not-not Tootie, or something?"

"Um." Now her nerves were returning, and she had the urge to run as fast as she could. This had to be said, it had to be let out, but this wasn't the way to do it. "I think we need to have a talk, but not here. Here isn't the right time."

Timmy's head rolled to the right and his smile grew for a split second. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know. You're the first guy in my life I've had that I can talk to. It's just, what I have to say, I'm scared to death of." She closed her eyes and breathed in when his arms wrapped around her. The gesture brought a great deal of warmth to her heart, but for some reason, there was a lingering feeling that remained which she couldn't explain.

As Tori's song filled the air around her, she felt that feeling grow stronger. She pulled back from him and looked into his eyes. "You know. I love this town, and everything about it. Even though it seems like they're just stuck in the 1950s." Timmy laughed and nodded.

"That's true. Growing up, I've always felt a strange presence here, but it's never felt bad."

"Yeah, oddly comforting…Maybe it's those friends of yours. God knows Cosmo and Wanda are oddly charming. Then again, they look stuck in the 50s too."

"Are you saying you're not from here? I thought you lived here."

"Well...Tootie did." He paused and gave her a suspicious look. Trina bowed her head and pat down her shirt. "That's what I need to explain to you, Timmy. I want you to know that I love you, and I am my own person, but there are some things that you need to know…and you can't tell anybody. I know you can keep a secret-"

"You're not Tootie?"

"No. I'm Trina. Trina Vega, but everything you know about me is true. Tootie is a good friend of mine, we met at camp, and we switched lives." She took his hand in hers and looked into his eyes. "Can we talk about this over lunch? In private?"

His eyelids fell down and he slowly nodded. "Yeah. I'm eager to hear what you've got to say-Trina? Just, who did I fall for?"

"Me." She put her hand to her chest and curled her eyebrows up in the middle. "You fell for Trina Vega."

"Why not tell me from the start?"

"Because Tootie made me swear not to tell anyone, and she would do the same. We just got tired of getting the shit ends of the sticks in our lives, and thought the other's was better…" She hugged her arms and looked back to the radio with a heavy sigh. Tori's song was over, but she'd moved on to a more familiar song. _You're the Reason_. It pulled at her heartstrings, forcing her to fight back her tears yet again. "It's gotten to the point where I need to make a decision, and before I make that decision, I need to tell you the truth."

"I see." He gave her hand a light squeeze and walked with her towards a nearby diner. She was happy to see he was accepting thus far, but now she just had to pray he'd continue to accept her. "Maybe we can start over as well?"

"I'd like that. I'd like to tell you more about my own life too. Just, bear with me." Her heart fluttered and for a moment she felt like skipping to the diner.

Elsewhere they were being watched by a couple with fifties style clothes and hair. "We're not trapped in the fifties, are we Cosmo?"

"I don't know about me," Cosmo laughed, "But you certainly have perfected the fifties hairdo, Wanda." The woman narrowed her eyes and turned away with a huff.

"I'm confused. That's not Tootie? She's an outsider? When did that happen, and how?"

"Who knows. She went away for a while some time ago, didn't she? That's what the whole thing was back in 2011."

Wanda scratched her chin and hummed. "That would explain a few things. Should we let them have their privacy?" Cosmo shrugged and Wanda walked off in the opposite direction. She wanted to know more about this Trina girl, but she didn't need to spy on the two. "As long as Timmy's happy, then we've done our job. Right?"

"Yeah, but for god sake, no more outsiders. They tend to muddle things up." At least Trina had been in the town long enough, though hearing her sister on the radio did appear to affect her very deeply. "No worse than Crocker, though. Funny thing, he's not an outsider-you'd think magic would influence him somehow."

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Show of hands who trusts the two at the end. Well, I hope you'll enjoy this and give it a chance (Especially IJ, for some reason). This is going to be fun, with Tori coming in soon hoping to bring Trina back to LA and Trina having to choose between her or well, essentially Timmy.


	2. Can't imitate Mannerisms

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

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Chapter 2 (Can't Imitate Mannerisms)

_"Tell me where she is, and I won't tell dad you've been pretending to be my sister." _

The red convertible flew down the freeway leaving a whirlwind of fury in its wake. Its driver wore a brown leather jacket over a pink shirt with a lacy collar. A pair of sunglasses shielded her eyes as the wind whipped her brown hair about like flames. Beside her was a girl in a purple tank top and denim jeans. Her brown hair was up in pigtails, and her arm hung lazily over the door.

"Take this exit," The girl said while pointing to an oncoming exit. "Dimmsdale is kind of a hassle to find, for some reason. It's like a community nestled away, not many can find it."

"All I see out here is country roads mixed with cornfields." Tori's lip curled into a scowl as her eyes drifted along the open plains. Her eyebrows dipped in the middle as she questioned where in the hell her sister could have gone. "I don't know how the two of you pulled this scheme off. You don't look _that_ much alike."

Still the two were able to fool nearly everyone. Tori was skeptical when she got the phone call from some woman claiming to be Tootie's sister, but all she had to do was watch for the mannerisms and soon she was able to rationalize that this girl was not Trina.

"You do realize that the exit you're taking is just onto another freeway, right? We've still got another hour or two to drive." Tori raised an eyebrow as Tootie pushed her hand up into her hair and sighed heavily. "It's been a while."

"Tell me you haven't forgotten how to find the place." She reached over and tapped her GPS. "This damn thing couldn't even find the town, and there's no mention of it anywhere. What's up with that?" Tootie's shoulders lifted and her lips pressed together.

"Not many people move in or out of the town. They've got their own transport and all that. I never really got it. I had to show Trina where to find it when we first started this switching thing."

"Great. So you have forgotten how to find the town." Tori switched into the right hand lane and glared at the gas gauge. "Near empty. Once we get into that town, I'm getting my sister and we're leaving."

"Trina might have found someone she cares about there." Tootie scratched her chin and hummed with uncertainty. "Now was it this exit or the next? I don't remember the construction."

Tori snapped her head over to Tootie and her voice rose above the wind and hum of the road. "Are you _kidding me_ right now!" Tootie flinched and rubbed her neck as Tori sped up to pass up a car on the right, then shot down the exit. "We're stopping at a gas station, filling up, and getting directions."

Meanwhile, Trina sat with her 'family' in Dimmsdale. The parents, Tyler and Vivian, were on the couch with her while Vicky sat in the recliner. Trina could feel Vicky's cold glare upon her and shifted uncomfortably while tearing her gaze to the Monopoly game on the table.

"Oh looks like I get two hundred!" Vivian chimed as she moved her game piece past the GO square. Trina smiled at the woman and turned her eyes onto her own game piece, the dog, and a brief stint of sadness shook her.

"It's been a while since I've played this game." When she was younger, _Monopoly_ was one of the many board games she and her sister would play together.

"We should play this game more often then," Tyler replied. The oven chimed and Vivian looked up. She commented about the roast being ready, then hurried into the kitchen. Tyler decided to take the opportunity to get something from the bedroom, leaving her alone with Vicky.

"You might be able to pull the wool over mom and dad's eyes." Trina's muscles tensed and her eyes drifted over to Vicky. "But you don't fool me. I knew you weren't Tootie from the first time you stepped into this house. Where is my little sister?"

"I-"

"I do know who you are, I saw you when you came into the town with her. So my question's redundant, I know _where_ she is, but I want an explanation. 'Trina'."

Trina closed her eyes and leaned into the couch cushion. She wasn't going to lie anymore since Vicky called her out, the woman deserved an explanation. "Tootie and I met at that camp we went to when we were fifteen." Vicky crossed her arms and narrowed her glare. "We formed a friendship because we looked so much alike, people called us twins even though we weren't. She had trouble with her family, I was dealing with issues in my family, and we thought the other had it better."

Her palms were moist, so she wiped them on her knees. Vicky rolled her head to the right and raised her eyebrows. The woman's shoulders fell and her scowl increased. "So it was kind of like a dare, we were going to spend the summer with the other family." Trina took a deep breath and averted her gaze. "I started liking this town more, and she enjoyed her time in LA, so two years ago we switched again and remained…We-"

"You both stole someone else's family, then."

She instantly protested, defending both herself and Tootie. "It wasn't like that, Vicky. We just wanted something better."

"Better?" Vicky leaned forward, growling at her. "So you think you can pick your family? I don't know what's going on between you and that Turner rat, but you don't belong here. If you plan on staying in Dimmsdale, you'd better find a place to live, because I'm not letting you in this house any longer. Screw what mom and dad say."

"I understand." She didn't like the sound of Vicky's ultimatum, but she didn't want to fight with the woman. It wasn't right deceiving them in this way, so it was only fair. "What about your mom and dad, should I tell them the truth?" Vicky scoffed and swept her hair over her shoulder.

"Honestly, I understand why Tootie switched with you. Mom and dad have never been so involved with the family, at least like the last couple of years. They've ignored her, that's why they couldn't pick up on the mannerisms that you have which Tootie doesn't. I could, because I've always been here. _I've_ always watched her, always seen her, and whether or not I did anything with her-I could pick my sister out from a crowd. Mom and Dad could be at a concert, for instance, and not know the back of their daughter's head while I could…"

Trina's jaw dropped and she pushed a strand of hair over her hair. Vicky snapped her fingers and pointed. "See, Tootie doesn't do that. She doesn't touch her hair the way you do." Trina pulled her hand away and struggled to say anything. "Also, when my sister eats-she chews with her mouth open. You chew with your mouth shut. Tootie tends to skip when she walks, even when she's not trying to. You sway when you walk."

"I didn't think about that. I understand. I'll look for my own place if you want me to."

Vicky turned her head away and shrugged. "You can stay until you find a place, that's as much as I'm giving you. Also, there's no need to tell mom and dad, unless Tootie decides she doesn't want to come back. In that instance, you'd better come up with something. They decided to try and be more involved in her life, that's the only reason they've acted the way they have these last two or three years."

"I'm sure she would have liked that."

"She would have. Yeah, but she decided her family wasn't good enough for her, I guess. Otherwise you wouldn't be here." The bitterness was harsh on Trina, but she took it with as much grace as she could muster.

Tori and Tootie were grabbing some lunch at the Subway portion of a gas station in the middle of nowhere. Seated at the table, Tori watched the girl munch on her sandwich. "You can hide the big stuff," Tori said. Tootie stopped and swallowed her bite. "But it's the small stuff that you can't hide. The things you do that Trina doesn't do-for instance, she would never eat with her mouth open."

"Sorry." Tootie wiped her mouth with a napkin and folded it over. "Is that how you could tell? I thought Vicky figured it out and found your family's number." Tori reached for her soda and sipped the drink through the straw.

When she pulled the cup away, she inhaled and set it carefully beside her sandwich. "That's part of it, yeah. To tell the truth, I kind of suspected something was up before long. There were things that you were doing that I could never picture Trina doing. Even actions that my friends would call out on you, that Trina wouldn't do."

"Such as?"

"Yes she wanted attention from people, but you take it overboard. You try to act like her, according to whatever script there is between the two of you." Tori folded her arms and straightened her back. Her eyebrows fell above her eyes and her head shook from side to side. "But I can tell you're acting because it's more than she'd act."

"Oh."

"Then there's things you _don't_ do that Trina does." Tori's fingers tapped on her forearm and she tiled her head backwards. She rubbed her lips together, then smacked them outwards. "Every morning, Trina gets up at six and goes out for a jog. She's gone for an hour, comes back and takes a fifteen to twenty minute shower. Then she helps mom with the morning chores."

"I thought I did all that."

"You do some of it. I'll watch, you take shorter jogs and you change up the routes-Trina never changes her route." She could follow Trina and knew the girl's route by heart. Trina ran through the neighborhood, then went into the community park to run through the trail around the park, then she proceeded to jog the perimeter of the elementary school. "You don't jog the school's perimeter, you don't run back through the park and trace the neighborhood like Trina does."

Tootie's brow furrowed and her eyes drifted down to the sandwich. Tori followed her gaze and tilted her head. The sandwich Tootie was eating had shredded lettuce, but Trina hated shredded lettuce because of the mess it made.

She curled a finger over her lips and slanted her eyes. "You know. When you help mom with chores like Trina does, you don't fold the clothes right. Trina will fold it in half, stretching the sleeves outwards, then she'll bring the sleeves down and fold the shirt to look like those dress shirts you find at the stores before taking all the pins out."

"Yeah, I usually hang my shirts up, so I don't have a complicated folding process."

Tootie brought the sandwich up to her lips and Tori's lip tilted into a smirk. "She also can't stand shredded lettuce, because the lettuce always falls out and causes a mess." The girl stopped the sandwich at her lips and looked down to the paper now filled with piles of fallen lettuce.

"So you're saying Vicky confirmed your suspicions, basically."

"Yeah, she did." Tori uncrossed her arms and grabbed her sandwich up. "I love Trina, she's always going to be my sister, so the fact that she decided we're not good enough for her-" Her heart stopped and her eyes closed as the pain in her body subsided. "I've got to remind her what we had, I want her back. I want my real sister, you understand. I don't care what you do after all this, if you want to stay in LA, fine-but find your own damn place to live. I don't want to see a pretender in place of my sister."

"I understand, and I can respect that. It's just-Dimmsdale and my family…"

"I get it. There's nothing for you there like Trina thinks there's nothing for her back home. She doesn't realize that she has everything she wants, I still love my sister. Mom and dad love her too, even if they are always busy."

"She'd probably believe you before them."

"Maybe. Vicky cares about you too." Tori bit into her sandwich as a smug feeling swept through her. Tootie jerked her head back and shot a suspicious look at her. "It's sometimes hard to see what's right in front of you when you're caught up in all the bad things. Yes, I hang out with my friends more than anything, and yes I spent less time with Trina. Sometimes my hobbies, like my singing, get in the way, but that doesn't change how I feel."

"No?"

"She's still my best friend. She's still the first person I want to see in the morning and I always want a hug from her before going to bed. She's my sister, and nothing can change that." Tori opened one eye and hummed as Tootie slowly set her sandwich on the wrapping paper. "I could tell talking to Vicky on the phone, she feels the same about you."

"Vicky terrorized me growing up, she terrorized everyone. She was a bully, a jerk. Mom and Dad were also always busy with their jobs, they didn't give a shit about me whenever I told them how much of a monster Vicky acted like-"

"So they always saw her as good, just like my parents brushed Trina off whenever she complained I wasn't paying any attention to her."

"Yeah…"

"But Vicky cares enough about you that she found out who my sister was, found my father's number, and when we talked she was hurt and angry. Like I was. I didn't want to believe a pretender was living in my house, and neither did she. She wants her sister back too."

"I don't know if I want to go back to that town. I've also given Trina the option to stay there in my place."

"You don't have to go back if you don't want to, but I'm not leaving without Trina."

"What if she won't go?"

"Then, I don't know, but I'll figure something out." The thought that she might end up having to leave that town without Trina was frightening. She'd fight that as long as she could. "I just want her to remember, to see that we can still have what we used to have. Things don't have to change. If this stupid town's got her enchanted, then I'll just have to disenchant her, now won't I?"

* * *

As a friend quotes, sisters can pick up things that even parents can't. It could take a while for Tori and Tootie to locate the town, there's a reason for this forgetfulness of Tootie's. Think of it like this, the force that is in the town, it influences you over the course of a few years when you move in and you forget the town when you move away. Anyway, looks like both sisters want their respective sibling back, let's see if Tori can reach Trina, but in the end it's Trina's decision where she wants to be.


	3. Accepted

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: This is where you will start to get the sense that something is amiss with the town, with C&W, and other stuff. Here you go.

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Chapter 3 (Accepted)

Timmy walked alongside Trina as they made their way through the thick forest on Dimmsdale's outskirts. They'd been silently admiring their surroundings, and ignored the feeling of being watched. "So things aren't exactly working out at Tootie's place?" Trina looked up to him and shrugged.

"Yeah Vicky knows who I am. I'm not overly surprised, though. She is Tootie's sister, she would know the girl best, no matter how she acts." Trina held her purse in front of her waist and looked down to the ground. "She wants me out of the house, so I have to start looking for a place. I understand though, she shouldn't have to look at a pretender every day."

"It will be okay, I'm sure." She could only wish her confidence was on par with his. She didn't have the money to find another place. The place she was working at now was only temporary at best, and Timmy still lived with his parents. "If you need to, I can talk to mom and dad about letting you move in?"

She looked up and felt a surge inside of her. "I would appreciate that, but I don't want to burden them." There wasn't room for her at his house, and she was certain his parents wouldn't feel comfortable with his girlfriend living there. "Besides, we're starting over, right? I mean you may not like some things about me that we've never really talked about. I don't think we're ready to discuss living together."

He frowned and started walking once more, so she hurried to move beside him. "We talked about this yesterday, Trina. I care about you."

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know you're athletic, I know you love animals and you enjoy helping people. You've got a good heart and a good head on your shoulders." She swooned and looked away to conceal the burning blush on her cheeks. "Maybe I don't know about your life in LA, but I want to know. I want to learn more about you."

Not many guys were this accepting, and certainly not of her. There'd only been one, but that was in the past. She was certain both of them had already moved on. "I've been through a lot, Timmy. You'd have to accept a lot. I mean, you hardly know the whole reason Tootie and I started to switch places-or what the camp was, for that matter."

The camp had essentially been a support group for troubled teens. It was to help them socialize with daily activities and to build self-esteem.

"That camp didn't help too much, obviously. We both still felt like our families were negligent and we were invisible to them." He turned his head to her. Trina's body trembled as her heart sank. "Switching places, it seems like both of us are happy with a family that isn't ours…" She whisked her hand up with an angry scoff and rolled her eyes. "Clearly that only worked for so long."

"Trina." Timmy turned to her and took her hands in his. As her eyes mixed with his, she felt the environment around her shifting away. Trina held her breath and let the crisp, cool wind relax her tense muscles. "I'm sorry about your family, but I want you to know-you're not invisible. You're a great person, and I love you."

She moved closer to him and tilted her head downwards. Only one other guy ever talked to her like this, so perhaps that was what appealed to her. "Thank you. No one's really ever given me a chance. I mean, I've only had one boyfriend before, but a lot of other guys were always so quick to turn me down."

He moved a finger under her chin and smiled warmly. "Well all those guys that turned you down are idiots, I think." She laughed. "And that one guy, he missed out on a good thing, I think."

"Sinjin? Oh I don't know if I'd say that." Trina brushed her hair back and shrugged. "He was a good person, he made me feel like you do. Safe, warm, like I'm someone important…"

"So he was a good guy, then?"

"Yeah."

"Mind if I ask what happened?"

"No." She took a deep breath and looked to the right, reveling in the rushing sound of the waterfall beside them. "He and I dated around the time Tootie and I were switching with one another."

"Oh. I see." She didn't want to say she actually went as far as having sex with the man, but that was something you had to expect in today's day and age. The truth of the matter was, Tootie wasn't interested in Sinjin so she had to break the rule and tell him the truth. Sinjin broke things off with Trina, saying he wouldn't mind being with her when she decided to stop pretending to live someone else's life. "Well, all's fair in love and war, I'd say."

"That is an old, cheesy quote."

"Still true. You're here with me. That's what counts." He pulled her into a comforting hug. She closed her eyes and hugged his neck, breathing out slowly as her heart beat to the same tune as his. As long as he was holding her, she felt the pressure of the world wasn't nearly enough to shake her. "I love you."

She squeezed herself into his arms and felt his warm breath stirring up chills on her neck. "Thank you for understanding, for accepting me. I don't know what I'd do, I just don't want to be rejected anymore."

"I wouldn't reject you. I'm sure your family wouldn't have either if they knew better." She chuckled once and lifted her head up from his chest so she could look into his eyes and see the concern he had.

"Maybe, maybe not. I still think my sister's far too focused on that school of hers and those friends. Even if Tootie wasn't in my place…she probably wouldn't notice or even care." She looked away and her nose wrinkled as she thought on Timmy's friends. "You know, Cosmo and Wanda…what they are, I thought they existed to make kids happy or something, but they seem only to exist here in this town."

"Surely there are others."

"Wouldn't know, but it would have been nice to have them when I was younger, I guess."

"Are you happy here?"

Trina started to reply, but stopped when a sudden pulsing sensation shot through her. She bowed head and tucked a portion of her lip under her teeth. "I am happy here. I think so."

"You don't sound certain."

Tori popped up in her brain and she visualized her parents standing arm in arm. "No, I-" In her mind she could visualize two young girls, sisters, playing on a swingset. The eldest pushed the younger and the two were being watched by their father's protective gaze.

Those days were gone, and she could never have them again. This was her life now.

"I am happy here. With you." Her right hand slid down to his chest and her eyes drifted back into his. "I might miss my sister, but there's nothing for me. She's gone, I have nobody else."

"You have me."

"I do. The way you make me feel, I feel like I can do anything. It's almost like a dream…too good to be true." It was almost as his two friends were, unbelievable. "Someone like me doesn't deserve such good treatment."

"That's not true."

"If it isn't true, then how come no one's ever really bothered with me? My dad used to love me when I was a kid, and so did my mom. But that all stopped. My sister was number one in my life, and I was first in hers, but now I'm nothing." The empty feeling she once had began to rear its ugly head, forcing numbness through her. "Her friends made that perfectly clear time and time again."

"What do you mean?"

"That I'm nothing, that no one likes me." She stared blankly ahead of him and slowly shook her head. "There's nothing for me there."

Behind her the leaves on the ground rustled as if someone were walking nearby. She pulled away from Timmy and turned in time to see Cosmo and Wanda in their human forms. Her heartbeat rose as they flashed pleasant, comforting smiles.

"Why don't you go ahead and forget all about all that unpleasantness," Wanda suggested. "It's in the past, you're happier here."

"I am."

Wanda moved forward and hugged her close, gently patting her back. "You're accepted here, loved here, and you've got a life going for you right here in Dimmsdale." She closed her eyes and hugged the woman back.

The strange thing was, she still had a strange and unshakeable feeling that something wasn't right. She didn't like it though, so she did what she could to ignore it.

The ringtone on her phone pierced through the air, causing her to jump and nearly fall off her feet. She grabbed the phone out of her pocket and smiled at the caller ID. "It's Tootie." Wanda and Cosmo glanced at each other and frowned, but she paid no mind to their silent exchange.

"Hello?" She walked forward and put the phone to her ear. "Tootie, what's going on?" In the background she could hear a violent wind and the clatter of rain which nearly drowned out someone that sounded remarkably like Tori screaming at the sky. "Is that Tori screaming?"

"Yeah it is," Tootie answered, "Things are not going so well over here. I tried to get ahold of Vicky earlier."

"Really? Why?"

Tootie shout out a loud breath as Tori continued to startle Trina by cussing at the storm. "I don't know, there aren't that many people to call, and we're in the middle of a storm. As I'm sure you can tell" She didn't think it was storming in LA, but she hadn't checked the weather recently. "Quick question, what's the weather like where you're at?"

"Clear skies, why?"

"Great. Yeah, it almost never rains in Dimmsdale for some reason." Trina turned to see Cosmo and Wanda staring at the phone. "Anyway, I need to tell you something important. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure. What's the matter?"

"It's about our arrangement." Trina frowned and turned away. Her chest grew tight and her heart started to pound as she anxiously awaited Tootie's statement. "We've got a problem."

"Well, I should probably say Vicky found out. Also, I told Timmy, he's accepting."

"Well that last part's good. Now-" Her phone cut off suddenly and Trina pulled her phone from her ear. Her lips pursed and her brow furrowed.

"What the hell? I had this thing fully charged."

"What happened?" Wanda pulled her hands from her pocket and Trina looked back to the woman. "Is everything okay?"'

"I don't know, Tootie was trying to tell me something important but my phone died. I was sure I had the phone fully charged." She was furious and now anxious once more. She was going to be stuck with worry until she could get ahold of Tootie. As much as she wanted to ask Wanda to recharge her phone, she didn't like to use their magical capabilities. "I'll just…get this thing charged and call her back."

Meanwhile, Tori and Tootie were stuck at another gas station trying to dry out the convertible. Tori turned to the girl, wringing her wet hair out. The sudden rain storm was not helping the mood she was in.

"Tell me you have good news, Tootie." Tootie was staring at her phone, looking bewildered and lost.

"We lost connection, but I do have news." Tori waited with baited breath as Tootie's head rose from the phone. "There are definitely no signs of a storm anywhere near Dimmsdale."

"What!" She kept from lunging at the girl and strangling her, though it was hard to resist. "No gas station attendant we've talked to has heard of this town." Tori shook her hand downwards, flinging the rainwater off her fingertips. "It's not on fucking map, and you'll excuse my language." Tootie backed up as Tori approached her, panting heavily. "My sister's in some strange town that you can't remember the way to, and we're stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a soaking wet car that I can't get the top to raise! Not to mention we've been driving for how long now?"'

"A day or two…"

"That was rhetorical!" She clenched a fist and took another step towards the girl. "Do you need help jogging your memory, Tootie, because I'm, all out of patience."

"Um." Tootie pushed her phone into her pocket and started for the gas station. Tori growled lowly as water ran from her hair and down her face. "Let's just check the phone book, maybe there's a number for Dimmsdale."

"Or you could call _your_ sister and see if she knows the number to the city hall or something, so maybe there's someone who knows the way to the city." There wasn't much they could do besides wait for the car to dry, and that was going to take hours.

Tori approached her car and leaned over the side, grasping the edges firmly. Her eyes drifted to the framed photo on the floor in the backseat. It was a picture of Trina and it had fallen back there likely when they were moving boxes around a few years back. They'd not always lived in the house they were in now.

"I won't give up on us, Trina. Don't you give up, because whatever it takes, I'll be there. I love you, I don't know why you can't see that, but I will remind you." Thunder echoed through the air and Tori looked up just as the wind blew the rain beneath the roof of the gas tanks and into her face. She let out an angry scream and pushed herself away from the car. "Tootie!"

"What?" The girl was walking back with a phone book in her hand. Tori swept her hand across her face and clenched her teeth. "You know, I'm really sorry I can't remember the way. I don't know what's wrong with me. I did find a number for a good mechanic that can probably get the roof to work."

"Yeah well, besides that." A Sherpa might produce better luck. "If I ever have the audacity to run away to a place no one can find because I don't feel loved or worthless or something…shoot me first." She looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes at the car. "And call that mechanic-and maybe a dry cleaning service or something.

* * *

So, Tori and Tootie have no idea where they're at. Trina's falling for Tim, and it seems she's forgetting her life outside Dimmsdale.


	4. Forget Your Woes

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 4 (Forget Your Troubles)

"Have you ever lived in a town where everything seems too good to be true?" Trina grabbed an apple from a street vender's basket and looked it over while Wanda examined the pears nearby. "This place, it's like a dream. That's why I've stayed here whenever Tootie and I switched over."

Wanda glanced at her and smiled gently. "It sounds like Tootie's become infatuated with Los Angeles. It's a fortunate case, you no longer have to worry about being tied down to a harmful life." Trina saw a bruise on the apple and returned it to the basket with a heavy sigh.

"Harmful? I don't know if I could say that." She spun around and walked to the bunches of bananas, looking for ones that weren't yet ripened. "Dad's a workaholic, but he's no monster. Mom's got her own things to work out, and Tori? Well-"

"She cares more about that school now, according to you." Trina moved her head back and pulled her lips together as she thought about her sister laughing with her friends. She could hear them calling her names, and she remembered the feelings of despair that she once had. Her body started to ache until she felt Wanda's hand on her shoulder, which caused the bad memory to vanish in an instant. "That life isn't yours anymore, Trina. Be happy. You've got Timmy, you make him happy and he makes you happy."

The woman's voice was soft and comforting, like music that filled her heart with bliss. "Yeah. I don't know why I'm even questioning myself. Tootie's offer, I might just take it. There's nothing for me in LA, my life…my life is here now."

"Exactly." Wanda's hand swayed through the air, showing off the town. Trina took in a deep breath and watched the people moving about, and the children playing.

To her right was a bicyclist in a red shirt and biker shorts, he had a yellow backpack and lively eyes. His smile was wide and he seemed to be humming a chipper tune.

"Now does Tootie want to come back to Dimmsdale?" She bit her lip and shook her head. There was no doubt her friend hated the town. The only way she'd be back here was if someone forced her to come along. "So she's happy where she is, what more do you need?"

"Vicky knows I'm not Tootie, she wants her sister back and wants me out of the house."

"Would you like me to talk to her? Maybe I can talk some sense into her."

Fearing an unneeded fight, Trina quickly shook her hands and dismissed the idea. "There's no need to get involved in that. I can deal with my own battles." To her right, the town's resident elementary teacher was going through the oranges. He looked up at her and Wanda, then turned away with a disgusted groan. "You know something, Wanda. I've always wondered what Crocker's problem was."

Wanda frowned at the man and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Cosmo and I watched over him when he was a child. Once he grew up, we were reassigned. Unfortunately much of his memory had to be erased." Trina crossed her arms and leaned to the right. She studied Crocker with a forlorn feeling inside. "He still retained some memories, I guess."

"You'd think, because he keeps going on about fairies and stuff."

Crocker stood erect and glanced at the two with narrow eyes. "I can still hear you. Not much, but I don't like people talking about me behind my back." Trina cupped a hand over her mouth and Wanda's shoulders fell. "Fairies are evil, girl. One day you'll understand."

Her eyes widened and Wanda moved forward with a scoff. "Enough of your insane cracks, Crocker."

"They may have everyone fooled, but not me. Not me, I say! I'll show everyone, if it's the last thing I do." Trina rubbed her arm and stifled an uncomfortable whine. This was one of the first and few times that Crocker's words were leaving any sort of an impact on her, and they confused her. His beady eyes darted onto her and she jerked back nervously. "You should never have come back here, girl."

"Oh will you leave the poor dear alone." Wanda pushed Crocker's chest and he stumbled backwards. The man caught himself and huffed out before storming off in the other direction.

"What was that about, Wanda?"

"Oh sweetie, don't let him bother you." Wanda turned around and took Trina by the hand. She started to relax as the woman's gentle eyes warmed her heart. "You know he's just a little insane. There's not much we can do about it. You just worry about yourself, and about Timmy, and everything will be fine."

"You're right. I don't know what I was thinking." She rubbed her neck and closed her eyes, visualizing once more her little sister. This time she was picturing Tori on stage singing _One Way_ by Blondie. Her eyes opened halfway and her right eyebrow drifted upwards. "I don't know what it is, but lately I can't stop thinking about Tori."

"Is that a problem, dear?"

"No, well, I don't know." She slouched and started walking down the stone pathway. "I think I miss her, but I don't know why. I don't think that I should be."

"Do you think she thinks about you?"

"No." She longed for Tori to love her again, but that desire was just a moot point. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should just forget her, forget all of them. What does it matter when I'm here and they're there."

But then, what kind of friend tells a person to forget someone entirely. Wanda was clearly thinking of trying to make her feel better by not dwelling on the more painful thoughts, but she didn't think it was possible to forget somebody entirely.

The less she remembered, the happier she felt she was. It was impossible to remember the good memories she had, and that was what disturbed her most. It was to the point she wanted to forget because all that she could remember were the bad things.

"Do you think if I forgot them and was happier for it, that I could make Timmy happy?" She did a double take, wondering where that was coming from. She always heard and always felt it was important to make oneself happy first before others, and she didn't have to make someone else happy. They should care about her for who she was, taking the good, the bad and all. "That came out wrong."

"Not at all, dear, I understand. I'll help you out if you want me to."

"What do you mean? Help me forget?"

"Yes. You can be happy like everyone else. You just need to focus on the pleasant things that you see. You've got an entire town to explore, you don't need to waste your energy on the things that depress you."

Wanda walked in front of her and turned to face her. "Have you ever tried meditation?" Trina moved her lips together and stretch lines formed from her mouth. "You have a beautiful open field right here." The woman swept her arm out to the right and Trina glanced over to the breathtaking sight.

It was the field where she met Timmy, and in the middle was the giant tree with leaves that danced and sparkled in the sunlight. The wind blew the leaves from the branch, letting them spiral around the tree.

"Meditation? It sounds nice." She walked towards the tree and sat carefully on the clean-cut grass. She gazed at some flowers in front of her and reached for them, touching the petal as if it were breakable glass.

The sound of a child's laugh entered her mind and she threw her head up, looking around to try and see if any children were nearby. It reminded her of her sister's playful laugh. Sadly no children were around, which startled her. She ignored this and shook the thought away. Her hands between her crossed legs and her tense shoulders relaxed .

Wanda sat beside her and placed a gentle hand on her back. "Now just lay back, close your eyes and relax. Let the wind carry you, and you won't feel so heavy anymore."

"These are clean clothes, Wanda. I don't really want to get them dirty." She felt of the grass and gasped when a towel appeared beneath her. "Wanda, you know I don't like when you do that without asking."

"Sorry sweetie. I'm only trying to help. Try to be calm. Meditate and forget all your troubles." With a heavy sigh, Trina lay back against the towel and folded her hands on her stomach.

Above her the leaves rustled in the wind. Her lips curled into a smile and her eyes fluttered shut. In her mind's eye she pictured her real family sitting around the dinner table. She was only eleven, and Tori was nine. David was watching his family with pride while Holly laughed about an experience she had on the job at the hospital.

To her right, Tori was poking her with a breadstick, trying to get her attention. "Can we play hide and seek in the yard after dinner, Trina? Please?"

"It just rained!" Their mother's eyes grew with horror and Tori's head fell. "You two will not get mud all over your nice clothes. You can play video games, if you'd like, but please wait until it dries up before going outside." This clearly was not going to happen, but both girls flashed innocent smiles at their mom while locking their fingers together under the table.

Trina scrunched her face as this memory began to fade from her mind. Another memory appeared with the girls being much older, and Tori was teasing her about what she'd done with her boyfriend the other night.

Once again, she couldn't hold onto the memory. When the wind around her whistled, the vision changed to that of Tori's friends laughing and her father in his study, telling her he was too busy to talk. As her heart began to race, her body grew hot and her fingers trembled anxiously.

"Focus on your surroundings," Wanda said with a gentle voice. "The wind, the leaves, and even the grass." Trina took a deep breath and forced herself to focus on anything other than the memories of home. And soon it was as Wanda said, she felt as though the wind were lifting her up into the air and she was able to float with the leaves and dance with the flowers in the meadow.

As she allowed herself to have this peace, she continued this feeling for what she thought could be the greater portion of the day. When finished, she opened her eyes and sat upright. For the first time, she was free. Her body warmed at the wind's gentle embrace, and the clutter of her mind wasn't there any longer. She was amazed and surprised.

"I never thought meditation could be so helpful."

"Of course sweetie. You should do this every day, and soon you'll be able to never have to worry about your past troubles any longer. You can be happy here in Dimmsdale."

"Yeah…" This was definitely something she saw herself doing, and she would. If something could make her feel so peaceful, so light, then it must be a good thing. "Feels too good to be true, just like this town." Wanda laughed and reached over, hugging her.

"I'm glad you're enjoying this town. If there's anything I can do to make you feel at home, let me know. I'm here for you as much as I am for Timmy."

"Thank you. I appreciate that, I do."

* * *

Now because I assume no one else will say it, I'll go ahead and say what we're all thinking: "No, don't listen to her! Resist!" Now. You know Wanda's sitting there meddling with those memories, masking them. Primarily it's so Trina won't recall the good things and be tempted to leave. Thoughts and observations?


	5. Dreams and Nightmares

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 5 (Dreams and Nightmares)

_Two young girls danced in a circle outside their grandmother's house, laughing as their hair flew in the path of their spins. They were singing along to the nursery rhyme their grandmother taught them, but decided to do it while playing rather than sitting in a room with a sheet of paper. "Sing with me, Trina!"_

_ Tori jumped back and put her hands to her hips as Trina snickered. "London bridge is falling down, falling down falling down. London bridge is falling down, my fair lady." Trina hurried to a tree and Tori followed, then pressed her body up against the trunk while poking her head around to watch her sister gather the rocks and sticks on the ground._

_ "Build it up with sticks and stones, sticks and stones, build it up with sticks and stones, my fair lady." Trina handed her the debris and she quickly shook her head._

_ "Sticks and stones will all fall down, all fall down, all fall down. Sticks and stones will all fall down, my fair lady." Tori picked off the bark on the tree and extended her gift to Trina. "Build it up with wood and clay, wood and clay, wood and clay. Build it up with wood and clay-" _

_ "Mm-mm." Trina put her hands to her hips, then pointed to the creek. "Wood and clay will wash away, wash away, wash away." Trina rushed to the creek and hopped onto a stone in the middle. She grinned and began kicking her legs out. "Wood and clay will wash away, my fair lady."_

_ With a laugh, Tori ran for her and hopped onto the rock with her, but there was hardly enough room for them. Before falling off, Trina hopped onto the other side of the creek, where Tori soon followed and pointed to a steel structure in the distance._

_ "Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel. Build it up with iron and steel, my fair lady!" Trina scratched her chin and rejected the idea._

_ "Iron and steel will bend and bow, bend and bow, bend and bow." Tori rolled her head to the right and frowned as Trina wagged a finger. "Yes, Iron and steel will bend and bow, my fair lady."_

_ Trina grabbed a brick beside their grandmother's shed behind the house and tossed it to Tori, who nearly dropped it upon catching it. "Build it up with brick so sure, brick so sure, brick so sure. Build it up with brick so sure-" Trina danced behind Tori and leaned up against her, setting her hands to her upper arms. "My fair lady."_

_ Tori tossed the brick to the side and laughed loudly. "It will stand forever more, forever more, forever more. It will stand forever more…"_

_In an instant the skies began to darken, causing the girls to scream as thunder roared above them. They took each other beside the hand and started to run for their grandma's home, but every step they took, the house seemed to fly farther away rather than closer._

_ Racing ahead, Tori felt her sister's hand slipping from her grasp. She turned back and froze when their grandmother's shed opened into a large hole that was pulling everything in. "Trina!"_

_ The girl cried out and began flying towards the hole, so Tori raced after her. "Tori! Tori help me!" Tori reached out for her, tears and sweat poured down her body and seemed to weigh her down. _

_ In the hole, Tori thought she could see a bridge standing proudly above the emptiness. It stood out as if it were the most important artifact around, and like the nursery rhyme it was alternating between rocks, clay, iron, and brick._

_ "Tori, I can't remember. Remember the song! Tori help!"_

Tori awoke with a start and felt of her neck and chest, she'd been overtaken by a cold sweat and was breathing with the intensity of having run a marathon. Her wide eyes scanned the darkened motel room and she trembled with fear.

Tootie was in the other bed, now awake and studying her. "Are you okay?"

"No." Tori's hand slid down to her heart and she looked to the window. "Just a dream, but it felt so real." The skin around her eyes wrinkled up as the words to the nursery rhyme remained fresh in her head. "London. London bridge-"

"Didn't we pass a place way back in Oregon called London?" They passed through the town and stopped for gas. While there, they visited the traveling center. She remembered very clearly a story about one of their bridges out of town having been closed down for decades, but at this point Tori didn't know why it was significant.

"They had a bridge that was shut down, do you remember reading about that at the travel center?" Tootie pushed herself up, moaning lightly.

"Vaguely. I remember reading that it should be closed down, but transport buses still use it. The town's so small, I guess no one really pays any attention to something that looks like tourist buses."

"Why would tourists even be interested in it?"

"Because the bridge goes nowhere." Tootie picked up her contact lens carrying case and proceeded to push them into her eyes. Tori waited patiently for the girl, watching as she yawned and stretched out her arms. "Whew. Anyway, I read up a little on the story. I think it used to lead to some town that got condemned or something. There's a mountain on the other side of the bridge, with various pathways to the top. There's rumors of mountain people or something, and sometimes they come down from the mountain, but people don't go up."

Tori leaned back against the headboard and scratched her chin. She was trying to recall the story herself, but all she could really remember was that the other end of the bridge had a bunch of mushrooms growing in circles, and the bridge was slightly twisted and unstable due to its foundation and years of being left alone.

"Iron and steel. Tootie! What was that bridge made out of?"

"Steel? Why?" Tootie folded her arms and Tori started to jump up in her excitement.

"Did you read up about the mountain? What are the walkways made out of?"

"I don't know. The mountain has a path of gravel to the top. Pretty sure there's also a road for cars, since they claim tourist buses can drive up there. The top of the mountain is supposed to have like a bunch of claylike walls and structures, then another bridge that leads to the top the barren land mass across a large body of water."

This was the closest they were getting to any way of locating the town of Dimmsdale. Still, a twisted bridge was no way of traveling, so surely there was another way across. "I think I've got an idea, Tootie. It's a bit of a stretch, but it's an idea."

Tootie fell back onto her own pillow and emitted a soft groan. "Oregon? We're so far away from Oregon-how do we even know that's where the town is?"

"Like I said. It's a stretch."

"There's literally nothing at the top of that mountain."

Tori pushed the covers off herself and jumped out of the bed. "I'm more interested in the land mass on the other side." Tootie rose up again and scratched her head.

"But didn't the tourist guide also say there was nothing there? Just a thick cloud or something. I don't want to go into smoke for nothing, I'm asthmatic. Plus, I don't even remember Dimmsdale being all that polluted."

Tori's eyelids fell halfway and her hands stopped at her hips. "You can remember what Dimmsdale is like, but you can't remember how to get there?"

"Vaguely, to be honest. I just remember hating that town. I almost wish it were overcome with pollution." A scowl stretched across the girl's face and her eyes narrowed into intense slits. "I can't tell you the horrors that filled that town, from what I can remember."

"And yet my sister decided she wanted to go there." Tori rolled her eyes and grabbed her suitcase. "Get up. We have a twenty hour drive ahead of us." Tootie rolled onto her back and brought her hands to her face.

"What if there's nothing there? We're back to square one."

"Look I'm sick of driving too, but we can't stop until I reach my sister. Since nobody knows where this town is, I can only rely on my in instinct and intuition, and my intuition is telling me…our next stop is Oregon."

"Great."

Tori sat back on the edge of her bed, feeling something wasn't right. She hadn't really talked much to the girl, so maybe now would be a good time to start. "Why don't you like that town, Tootie?" Tootie's eyes drifted over and her frown deepened. "The way you talk about it, it's like it's the worst place on earth or something."

"In my opinion, it is. I hate everything about Dimmsdale. For some reason Trina loves it, but I can't stand it. Too many bad memories." Tori nodded as the girl looked to the chipped television. "Have you ever seen _The Truman Show_?"

"I think so. Is that the one where the whole world is watching the guy's life and he's oblivious to it?"

"Yeah. Dimmsdale seems so much like that. Everyone's so chipper and happy-go-lucky, and I remember Timmy Turner." The name was familiar to her, but she didn't know him from anything more than something Tootie had said once before.

"Tell me about him."

"He was able to be lucky enough that everything went his way. I don't know how, I don't know why, but all he had to do was wish for something and it was right there." Tootie bowed her head and closed her hands on the blanket beneath her. "I had the biggest crush on him when I was a girl. But he rejected me so many times I thought there was something wrong with me."

"Oh god."

"Yeah. Then Trina and I switched places, and all of a sudden he's into her-but thought she was me." Tori's hand flew over her chest as it broke for this person. The girl looked up and threw her hand into the air. "My sister's a bully to almost everyone, my parents are all but existent. I could fall out of a tree and lay there in tears for hours, and nobody would come for me."

"Sounds like hell. I'm sorry, Tootie." She reached over and pat the girl's wrist. She tried to reassure her with a smile, hoping to be of some amount of comfort. "Look, it'll be alright. You don't have to stay in that town if you don't want to, I'll have my dad help you out, okay? But we do need to find my sister first. If you don't want to enter the town, you don't have to."

"And stay where, exactly? I'm already in this trip, I may as well go all in." That was a comfort to hear, though she still didn't want to make the girl do anything she didn't want to. "Besides, helping you find your sister-I owe you that much, I think."

"Well, once we find her, I still have to reach her. Something tells me she's not going to want to come home so easily." Not to mention, this Timmy guy sounded like a stuck up brat. "The guy she's fallen for, you said he usually gets what he wants? Like a spoiled kid?"

"Not exactly, but I don't know. It's hard to explain. Like I said, I used to be into him, but now I'm not." Tootie hopped off the bed and grabbed her own suitcase with a heavy sigh. "If we're going now, let's go. I'm not going to be able to get back to sleep anyway. I just hope your instinct's right-how do you even come up with this?"

"It was the nightmare I had."

"So we're following a dream?"

Tori smirked with confidence and pat her knees before rising up. "What better way to find a place that sounds like it would be one?" The girl blinked multiple times before belting out in laughter. It would be a long trip, so humor was going to be one of those essentials needed to pass along the time.

* * *

Well Tootie's willing to go back to hell to figure out what's going on, maybe they've found the way into this strange land where everybody is happy-or is that happiness a lie?


	6. Forget Me Not

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: At this point, Enchanted is going to become a bit darker. I know it's been awhile, I've had a busy semester and a bunch of stories in progress, so please bear with me. I apologize again. Anyway, get out of your mind the standard Fairly Odd Parents, and start thinking more the "Supernatural" lore regarding fairies, and you have close to what Cosmo and Wanda are doing with this town.

Also, I need you to tell me-since Trina's the one under the spell, whose perspective should be more frequent here, hers or Tori's?

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Chapter 6 (Forget-Me-Not)

She woke from yet another peaceful moment of meditation. Wanda and Cosmo were seated beside her, watching over her. "I thought you fell asleep," Cosmo joked. Trina ran a finger across her eyelids and took a deep breath.

"I feel like I could have." She very well could have, but didn't dream. As much as she tried to dream, or even think of the good moments in her life, she couldn't. There was no certainty that this was a bad thing, but she did cherish those good memories. "I feel so light."

Trina pulled herself onto her feet and looked around the city with a smile, the sun was high and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Of course, she couldn't remember the last time it rained. There had to be something to this town, but she dared not think too much of it. All she wanted to do was remember life here, though her life before was becoming harder to recall-as if it had all been a dream.

"I'm glad you guys are helping me to relax. I think I'm the happiest I've ever been." Wanda put her arm around Trina's shoulders and warmed her heart with a smile.

"That's what we're here for, sweetie. We take away your pain, your sorrows and unhappiness, and we turn it into joy." There was nothing wrong with that as far as she could see. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, humming as a vision entered her head.

In this vision, she was dancing close to a tall man, but she didn't recognize the familiarity that he held. His face was hidden from memory and his body was fading into a mist. Another memory lost, it seemed, or maybe it was just a dream that never truly occurred, she wasn't certain which.

Trina scratched the back of her head and pursed her lips. "Wanda, why is it I'm always having these strange dreams?" Wanda's head rolled to the right and concern flickered in her compassionate gaze. "I sometimes dream about these people, but when they come to mind, they're gone near instantly."

"Dreams are a part of life, dear." Trina rose to her feet and brushed the grass and dirt from her arm. "Are you questioning why you dream?" She raised an eyebrow and shook her head at the woman. She understood why dreams existed, of course she never had been certain of the content in the dream itself.

"No, I understand that." All dreams had meaning, at least that's what she always had been told growing up. These people that were showing up in her dreams, they were there for a reason, their presence had some sort of meaning. The memories she could recall felt like they belonged to someone else, rather than her own. "I'm wondering why I would dream about people I've never met before…"

"When you say you've never met them?"

"I don't know." Trina crossed her arms and started to walk away from the field. "I've lived here in Dimmsdale all my life, right?" She hugged her arms and ran her hands up and down her upper arms. Trina could feel Wanda's presence directly behind her, the woman's cool breath blew her hairs apart and cooled her hot neck.

"Something like that, anyway. I've known Timmy forever, but it feels like I really haven't-" She furrowed her brow and glanced up to the sky. She brought her hand up to her neck and rolled her head to the right, breathing out heavily. "These people in my dreams, they feel closer to me than the people that I have known. I don't know why. It feels like I should know, there's something important that I _need_ to know, but I can't figure it out."

"They are only people in a dream, and dreams are like storytelling, my dear." She turned her head over her left shoulder and frowned at Wanda. "These people aren't important to you, they are characters created by your imagination. Allow them to fade, allow them to go away. You don't need to attach yourself to them."

"The most recent dream. This guy…blonde hair, curls, tall and thin but legs like a biker. There's something about him, but I don't remember. He said he can't keep waiting, he can't accept a lie. What does that mean, Wanda? Dreams mean something, don't they?"

"Not all dreams have to mean anything, Trina dear." Wanda walked past her and closed her eyes. "I don't know why you think these people in your mind should influence you, they are of no importance. Forget them and live your life." She wrung her hands together and looked towards the ground. Her heart was breaking, and she felt like falling down to cry, but she stifled that strange emotion.

Trina felt a gentle touch on her cheek and brought her gaze up as Wanda cupped a motherly hand to her cheek and gave her a comforting smile. "You have nothing to fear, sweetheart. There's no need for you to worry about such frightening things. You have Timmy, and you have us-you have the people of this city. You're loved here, so what more could you ask for? Are you not happy?"

"I am…" She looked past Wanda and spotted Timmy in the distance. Cosmo was walking with him, and in Timmy's hand was a bouquet of flowers. Her heart jumped up and her lips curled into a bright smile. "I'm very happy, actually."

Timmy approached her and kissed her on the cheek. "You've been out meditating again?" She took the flowers and nodded. "Is it helping you to relax?"

"Yes." She sniffed the flowers, made up of zinna and forget-me-not flowers. They were odd choices, but not surprising as they were the main type of flowers that grew around the town. She'd find an occasional rose somewhere, but these particular flowers-albeit out of season or even geographical location-were shockingly common. "Thanks for the flowers, Timmy."

"Cosmo said they grow best on the border of the town." She could tell they were handpicked, and beautiful. Both signified memory, so they were a sweet choice. "So, are you open to helping out at the school? I'm volunteering for a festival they're putting on for the kids."

"You're helping with a booth?"

"Yeah. Maybe you'd like to help out? I'm working the dunking booth." She put her arm around his and set her head to his shoulder.

"I think I'd enjoy that."

Miles away, Tori sped down the freeway while Tootie continued trying Trina's phone. Each time they called, the call went directly to voicemail. It was grating to the nerves, and Tori was tempted to throw the phone out onto the road. "This place better be there," she grumbled, "Once I find my sister, I'm dragging her out whether she wants to leave or not."

"It might not be that easy." Tootie set the phone down in her lap with a sigh and looked up to her. A growl vibrated from her throat and she turned a swift glare onto the phone.

"What do you mean it won't be that easy?"

"Remember how I mentioned Timmy? She loves him-"

"She probably only _thinks_ it's love. She was in love before, but my friends and my parents pushed her to whatever switch she made with you." Timmy would have to wait, Tori wasn't going to give her sister up without a fight. Tori's nails tapped the steering wheel in a slow rhythm and her eyes drifted to a car in the right hand lane that she was passing up.

"You want to force her to go back to Los Angeles? I don't think that's going to help, she left because she was already mad at you. If you aggravate that, she'll never want to leave."

She rolled her eyes and muttered over Tootie's righteous attitude. The girl was right, Trina would never just up and leave if she felt like she was being forced. "Then I won't force the issue." Tootie frowned at her and hung her elbow out the window.

"You don't have a plan. Do you?" What plan was needed? She wanted to go in and get her sister to come back to Los Angeles, or at the very least, understand that she had people who cared about her back home.

"Right now, I'm pissed. I'm pissed my sister decided not only to move states away from us, but that somebody has been masquerading as my sister for several years now." She saw Tootie slouch, and continued to raise her voice in her ranting. "Not only that, but she's apparently stuck in some town that you don't even like for whatever reason."

"It just never felt right…" Tootie shook her head and ran her hand through her windblown hair. "Can we just talk about what you plan to do?" Tori's eyes drifted to the side and her lips separated to let a rush of air flow from her. Her fingers curled around the steering wheel and her shoulders fell.

"I just want to talk to her." She straightened her back and held her head, moving her hand quickly to sweep her hair over her ear. "I want her to know that I'm sorry, and that I want her back. I'll pay more attention to her if that's what she wants. That's what she wants, right?"

"It's not so much that she wants you to pay attention to her." Tootie crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "She wants a sister. She wants a mother and a father. She wants you to stick up for her when your friends treat her like trash. She pushed for the switch because she felt like she didn't have family, and she knew she couldn't just run away-because realistically somebody would take notice, even though she didn't feel like that was the case."

Tori felt a strain of guilt spread across her chest, leaving a painful and dull ache in its wake. She ran her hand over her left breast and exhaled sharply. "I have been spending a lot of time with all my performances and with my friends."

"Yeah I know, but you also spend a lot of time with your friends, and I don't really see the side of you that I would expect from all the stories you talk about in regards to you and your sister."

"Hollywood Arts took over my life. I'm not looking to make excuses, I'm past that point. I just want my sister." She flattened her lips together and slanted her eyes at the road in front of her. The muscles in her arm tensed and her eyes darted to the rearview mirror. "That's all. I refuse to let her throw away her life just because nobody pays attention to her. She forgets, mom and dad don't pay any mind to me either."

Sure she hid behind her friends and the school once she started to get attention from there, but that was no reason to ignore her sister. "I love Trina, I always have and I still do. I want-" Her breath caught in her throat, choking her. She cleared away the tension and shook herself. "I will be a part of her life, I refuse to let her run away." Tears formed at her eyelids and a sharp pain spread across he body. "I'm not going to let her just start a new life and forget all about me, all about what we had-we had something once…"

"What if that's what she wants, Tori? Did you think about what she wants?" Tootie's words played over in her head, branding her mind and heart. It could be too late to show Trina that she wanted to think about what she wanted, to show her the love and affection was still there, but she had to try.

Still, if Trina wanted to forget her and the life she had back in Los Angeles, that was up to her. Tori wasn't going to change her mind, she knew that. If Trina wanted to live life on her own and leave her family behind, as much as it hurt, Tori would respect Trina's wishes and back off.

"If she wants to move on from us and forget us, it's her choice. I-I won't stop her." Her heart was breaking as she listened to her own words, unable to accept what was coming from her mouth. "Mom and dad may not, and maybe my actions would keep me from deserving it, but I want to at least hear it from Trina herself that she doesn't want anything more to do with us…"

"What will you do?"

"I don't know." She ran her fingers over her eyelids and blew out another harsh breath. "Can we not talk about this now?" Tootie looked at her with a sad smile and nodded.

"Yeah. You deserve to know what her decision would be, whether you think so or not. That said…" Tootie brought her head back against the headrest of her seat and closed her eyes. "Maybe Vicky deserves that much from me too."

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So my readers. Question time. It may be clear that Cosmo and Wanda are not to be trusted, but what do you think their goal is? Any thoughts on what their true plan is? Timmy's still their main focus, I should admit. Can Tori reach her sister in time, or will she erased from Trina's memory completely. Do you think Timmy's in on it or is he just blind? What on earth is going on with the town, do you think?


	7. Lore

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

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Chapter 7 (Lore)

"So how's the road trip with your sister?" Jade's question stirred the irritation still brewing in Tori, though she couldn't simply tell her friends that Tootie was not her sister. She looked across the table of the restaurant they stopped at and narrowed her eyes as Tootie munched on a giant hamburger. "I mean from the sound of it, you're annoyed with her as usual. Why do you even put up with her?"

"Because Trina is my sister." Maybe it was possible for her friends to like Trina if they gave her a chance, but that wasn't a concern now. "I don't know how much longer we'll be out of town." She turned around in her chair and hung her left elbow over the back. Her fingers tightened around her phone and her lips pressed firmly against each other. "How are things faring down in LA?"

"Boring. Beck's off looking at the college that Sinjin and your sister go to. Andre recently got in touch with an aunt that lives in Louisiana, so he's not here. Cat's off with her roommate, and Robbie's doing his own thing. I hate to say it, but I kind of wish you brought me along with you and your…sister."

"Yeah, sorry about that. This trip just isn't meant for you, I'm afraid." She glanced at Tootie and shuddered in disgust at the hamburger meat and sauce that now covered the girl's face. She was hungry too, but she didn't feel like eating like a pig.

Tori pulled the phone from her ear and cupped her hand over the mouthpiece. "Seriously Tootie? Are you that hungry?" Tootie wiped her mouth with a napkin and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Vicky always told me to keep eating red meats. Hamburgers, steak, and so on. We have this condition, so she says while it's important to be careful, I still need to eat the red meat whenever I'm in or near town. Not sure why, really."

Intrigued and curious, Tori turned back to face Tootie. Her eyebrow rose and she glanced at her own hamburger while feeling a vibration in her stomach. "What's the condition you've got?"

"We have a lot of iron in our blood. It's actually very rare around Dimmsdale, I think. I know that my old teacher, Mr. Crocker, had the same condition. So I enjoy a hamburger when I get one, I just can't eat too much of it."

"I see." She was going to grab some small sliders from a nearby fast food restaurant for the road, but now she wasn't sure if it was a good idea. "Are you good for sliders? I was going to buy a bag for the drive so we don't have to keep stopping."

"Sure. It's called Hemocromatosis, I think. Vicky used to always leave town to donate blood, and she got me to do the same thing when I was younger. It helps to level out the iron in our bodies. I still don't know much about it since I haven't bothered researching it or getting a doctor for it, because I was never bothered."

"That sounds a little dangerous, to be honest." Tori would have been intrigued to see Tootie donating blood on a regular basis, although it did happen a few times. The most recent donation had been a week ago. "If the body's producing that much iron, it can kill you. Should you be eating all that meat, then?"

"It's fine as long as I'm careful." Tori shook her head and glanced to a television in the restaurant. The show _Supernatural_ was playing, and in it, Sam and Dean were dealing with a fairy. She smirked teasingly, having seen the episode before, and looked back to Tootie.

"One thing's for certain." Tootie took another bite of her hamburger and looked over her shoulder at the television. "If you ever run into any fairies, their magic can't touch you with all that iron in your body."

"That'd be nice, if fairies existed."

Tori heard something on the phone and remembered that she still had Jade on the line. "Hold on." She brought the phone back up and curved her lips up. "Sorry about that Jade, Trina and I were just chatting."

"I heard," Jade replied, "Did I hear something about fairies?" Tori laughed and pointed out the television show. Jade responded back with a serious flair that silenced Tori. "You realize I believe in half the stuff that show has. I think they go to extremes, but there are things in that show that exist in ours."

"You think fairies are real?" Tori stifled a laugh and reached her free hand towards her hamburger. "Jade, I never thought I'd see the day when I wanted to laugh at you for believing in something make-believe. Ghosts, I believe in, spirits sure, but fairies? Come on, Jade."

"The good ones don't exist. I imagine there might be some good ones out there somewhere, but overall a fairy is evil. You wouldn't know one until you ran into them or into their area of work."

Tori knew her friend was into all the supernatural things like witchcraft, spiritualism, and whatever else there was, but she didn't know how seriously Jade took it. That said, she wasn't sure if she could believe in the things Jade believed in, but as for this moment she wanted to go ahead and humor her.

"Tell me then. How would you know a fairy?"

"Well they can take human shape, or the shape of animals. I have a book, so hold on." She brought her hamburger up to her lips, waiting as she listened to the clattering noises in the background.

"This is amusing." She switched the phone onto speaker and set it down on the table. Tootie glanced over and chewed her food slowly. Eventually they heard a thumping noise, then Jade started to speak again.

"It says here in the book that fairies control magic, but that magic cannot cut through iron…" Tori moved her hamburger away from her lips and chuckled softly as Tootie's eyebrows rose. "Salt is bad for their health. Fairies will drain their victims of their life essence, their energy, and will use that to grow stronger. They can steal the joy from someone and use that to make somebody else happy. There have been cases where they'd drain entire towns, nations, just to supply themselves."

"Then why have we never seen them?" Tootie asked, catching Tori off guard. Tootie moved her hand in circular fashion and furrowed her brow. "I've never seen one of these fairies in my life."

"They won't show themselves unless they want to be seen." Jade paused and took a deep breath. "That being said, you might still find one if you go looking, but they're elusive and fast. They're very obsessive, that's why I say salt is bad for them-if you pour salt, or sugar, in front of them…they have a need to count each and every grain. They're vulnerable to silver as well, so iron and silver."

Tori took a bite of her hamburger, chewed and swallowed, then chortled out a joke. "So if we see one of these things, shoot it with a silver bullet. Right?" Jade groaned and started to growl.

"I'm telling you Tori, they're real! They're immortal, they can manipulate reality, change it into something that's not real. A dream world that their victims are blind to." Tori rolled her eyes and Tootie's eyes started to enlarge.

"How do we stop them then, Jade? Besides iron and silver."

"Well, feed them cream and they'll get drunk."

"A drunk fairy." She clicked her tongue and looked to the side. "Funny. Then sugar and salt distracts them? What else?"

"If you can get a hold of their book and destroy it, you could potentially destroy them." Tori took another bite and closed her eyes. She was uncertain what to make of Jade's commentary, but then, it was a nice distraction from this long trip they were taking. Unfortunately she had to cut it short.

"Jade, in what world do you think we live in where supernatural creatures-"

"Can they put towns under spells?" Tootie blurted to Tori's dismay. "Is it possible?"

"They could enchant a town," Jade replied quietly, "But it says here if they do that…there's a very bad reason for doing so. Either their magic supply is running low, or they've latched onto a human with potential to become powerful in their little realm of fairies. In order to turn a potential into one of them, they need a huge abundance of magic and they need to have that person reach the peak of happiness."

"What happens to the town? Does it just disappear or something?"

"No, but fairies are known to hide towns away. Outsiders can stumble into a town shrouded with magic if they know how to find it, but normally they won't unless they're incredibly lucky."

As she separated her lips, a loud huff left them. She set her hamburger down and reached for her phone. "Sorry to cut this short Jade, but we need to get back on the road." She clicked off the phone and tossed it back into the purse. "Please tell me you weren't buying all of that, Tootie." Tootie swallowed the last of her hamburger and shrugged.

"I don't know. I agree with you, but that still sounds like the Dimmsdale I left behind." Tori raised an eyebrow and rolled her head to the side. "And we haven't exactly found the town."

"Right…remind me never to bring up the show _Supernatural_ around Jade, lest she goes on a tirade about another fictional creature existing." She rose from the chair and pulled her purse strap over her shoulder. "I guess I couldn't ask for Disney fairies to exist now?" She gave a vague laugh and led Tootie out to the car. Tootie laughed as well and entered the vehicle.

"You're right, it's a silly notion." She started up the car and set her purse down between the seats. "So, are we stopping for sliders somewhere, you said? Not right now, of course, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I figure some sandwiches will be good. We're almost there, but we still have some time. I'd rather not continue the frequent stops."

"I agree. I can't wait to find Trina, although she's not going to like my being there. I mean, we weren't exactly supposed to tell our families what was going on, because-"

"Because exactly this would happen?" Tori flashed a smirk and Tootie slouched. "Not telling your family…bad idea. Talking to your family about the shit, good idea." She sped off and Tootie shouted as her hair smashed into her face. Tori glanced at the restaurant through the rearview mirror and chuckled absently. "Fairies." She shook her head and sucked in a deep breath. "Don't make me laugh. I stopped believing in those things when I was a little girl, and they certainly weren't evil back then."

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So what are your thoughts? Do you think Jade might be onto something there? Is Tori not as worried as she should be, and how much danger do you think there is?


	8. What is the Plan?

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

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Chapter 8 (What is the Plan)

Trina entered the home to find Vicky lounging on the couch. She had a bandage around her elbow, one commonly used by medical professionals who dealt with blood donations. Vicky's head was perched on the palm of her hand and Trina could feel the woman's icy gaze on her. "I see you still haven't found a place to stay, Trina. Only, I hear the dunking booth at the elementary school is getting another volunteer for the fall festival."

"Yes, I agreed to help Timmy with the booth." Trina removed her purse and set it down on the coffee table. "I've been looking for a place, but I haven't found anywhere that really catches my eye." She wasn't going to impose for much longer, but that didn't mean Vicky had to be so harsh about it. "Let's move on. I didn't know there was a donation clinic here."

"There isn't." Vicky sat upright and moved her hand to the bandage. "You are aware that I leave town to babysit for people outside the city, right? The town I usually visit has the blood donation clinic. I have high iron in my system, and I eat a lot of red meat, so I have to go donate once in a while."

"I see. Did Tootie have that issue?"

"Yes, but not as bad." She heard of people who had iron deficiency issues, but never the other way around. Her lips pursed and she sat slowly on the other end of the couch. "Hemocromatosis, it's caused by the body storing a lot of iron in the body, and if not treated, it can cause organ damage. Treatment is pretty much through blood donation-or just simple phlebotomy-or by taking chelation agents."

"What are those?"

"Medicine to help get rid of excess iron." Vicky cleared her throat and looked to the kitchen doorway. "Hemocromatosis is most commonly caused by a gene that's passed down from parent to child. Astonishingly, mom and dad don't have this problem as much, and Tootie has a little bit of the problem. I'm the one that got hit the most."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Vicky turned her gaze onto her, holding it for several seconds before smirking and moving from the couch.

"It's not a total loss. That, and leaving town every once in a while helps me to see a clearer picture of reality." She pursed her lips and folded her hands in her lap. As she pondered Vicky's words, she struggled to find the meaning. Vicky looked dumbfounded at her and crossed her arms. "Those people you're hanging around, Trina? Be careful. You need to attach yourself to something that gives you a link to reality, something that isn't of this town."

She looked up to the woman and raised an eyebrow. She didn't see any trouble with the people she was hanging with, and she certainly didn't have anything she wanted to remember from a past time. "What are you talking about?" Vicky's arms fell to her sides and her shoulders slumped.

"Nothing. It isn't important." Vicky's eyes darted to the window of the house and her hands moved to her waist. Trina looked over her shoulder in time to see Denzel Crocker outside, tapping a finger on his wristwatch. "I have somewhere I need to be." Once Vicky left, Trina removed her phone from her purse and gazed at the glossy screen.

She studied the names in the contact list until her head began to pound. Trina brought her fingers to her temple and groaned as the painful throbbing increased. _"No one likes you!"_ Jade's voice from the past haunted her, but the girl's words were not as powerful as they once were. Mainly because she wasn't entirely certain just what link Jade had to her.

"Tootie, are you okay?" Trina froze and her eyes darted to the right. Tootie's father was standing in the kitchen doorway, looking at her with great concern. She'd forgotten that the parents still didn't know she wasn't their true daughter, so she still had to act the part.

"I'm okay, it's just a little headache. Nothing to worry about." Tyler smiled at her and walked to the couch. He sat down beside her and looked at her with guilt-ridden eyes. She meshed her eyebrows together and pulled her fingers away from her temple. "Is everything okay, Dad?"

"I've had something on my mind, I wanted to talk to you." The man's gaze fell and his shoulders lifted upwards. "I know over the years, your mother and I haven't been the best parents to you, and I'm sorry. I've been trying to think of ways to fix that, to make it up to you and Vicky both, but I want to know if there's still a chance to try." The corners of his lips sank as his eyes drifted back to hers. "Your mother told me just last night, she was afraid that you and Vicky both would leave us one day and that we'd lose our daughters."

Her heart broke and her hand moved up to her chest as she thought back to Tootie. "I-" Her voice stuck in her throat and her eyes closed as the image of her own family came to her mind. Though they were fading fast, she still recognized them. Tori, David, and Holly. She couldn't bring herself to tell this man that his daughter had already made a decision to leave, especially not since she and Tootie were both considering the possibility of staying where they were. "You're serious?"

"Of course. We don't want to lose our children. I know we work too hard, and I've been trying to pull back on my hours at work."

Why had David never come to this epiphany before? How come her family simply ignored her and Tori for so long, until they had to start acting out to get attention?

As fast as the resentment and anger flickered back into her life, it was gone, as though she wasn't able to feel it any longer. Trina's fingers curled in and her hands rested on her lap as she tried in vain to recall what she'd been thinking about.

"It's okay. Really." Trina reached over and pat Tyler on the knee, then smiled reassuringly. "I think it'll take some time, but if we're all on the right track, then maybe we can work things out." The man's cheekbones pulled his lips up with them and he nodded with understanding.

"I'm glad." He drew in a slow breath and his chest expanded momentarily. "So I've noticed you're getting pretty close to boy, Turner." She perked with delight and sat straight. "Is he treating you well?"

"Yes." The key thing for her was that she trusted him. He didn't lie to her, nor did he try anything to hurt her. "He's a good guy." Tyler moved his hand up to his chin and his right eyebrow pulled up on his forehead.

"Has he moved out of grade school yet? It seems like he's been stationary for years, I just want to make sure he's good for you. Will he be able to support you, to take care of you?" She dropped her gaze and pulled her hand from his knee. "I know you've liked him since you were a child, but has he changed any?"

"Well, I-" She saw Tootie's mother walk into the room, her eyes were lit with intrigue and her lips were pursed.

"I'm surprised," Vivian announced. Tyler looked over his shoulder and Trina frowned. "I'm still a mother and still observant enough to remember you stopped wanting anything to do with him, Tootie." She chuckled nervously and pulled her hair over her shoulder.

"I don't remember that."

Vivian put down the plate that she'd been wiping with a rag, then moved her hands towards her hips. "It was a few years ago." The mother tilted her head to the right and her lips parted for a few seconds before she spoke. "Your sister was ranting about god knows what, then brought up Timmy, and you agreed with something she said. You specifically said not only did this town creep you out, but Timmy's constant positive mood also freaked you out and you were over him."

Her eyes darted off to the right and she started to wince, but caught herself. It seemed like it would have been an offhand statement, because Tootie never brought this up with her. Though the girl did tell her she wasn't interested in Timmy. "He has changed. I don't have that problem anymore."

"I see." Vivian walked over to the couch and sat on the other side of her. "Does this town still frighten you, Tootie?" Trina started to frown and looked over to Tyler, who was gazing at his wife with concern. "I have a job offer that I would consider, it seems Vicky's put an application in at other locations. Along with your father and herself, but we did tell her we weren't thinking about a move right now…"

"I've never thought about moving," Tyler admitted, "This town has always been good to us." The man closed his eyes and sloped his shoulders. "Although, I know you and Vicky have mentioned some issues in the past that we've never paid any mind to. We may consider it now, but that's something we need to discuss as a family one day."

"I think that's fair." She didn't want to leave this town. Leaving Timmy wasn't an option that crossed her mind, and going back home was out of the question. "We can talk about it later. Vicky left somewhere, so maybe when she gets home?"

"Maybe." Vivian moved her hand over and tentatively groomed Trina's hair, running her fingers slowly along the strands. A warm feeling came over her, but there was still a strange feeling inside that there was something she lacked.

This inexplicable feeling overtook her and kept that warmth inside of her from truly surrounding her. Still she fought it.

This may not be her real family, but in her eyes, they were better. Maybe Tootie was noticing a change in the family in Los Angeles, but she had her doubts to that. Cosmo and Wanda said she could safely ingrain herself with this new family, and that was exactly what she wanted to do. The family she left behind didn't care enough about her to deserve any part of her life, so if Wanda said to forget them, that was exactly what she would do.

Elsewhere, Vicky had joined Crocker in following and watching Cosmo and Wanda. The two fairies usually convened in a building within an older part of the town, it was out of sight and away from civilization enough to keep from prying observers. Yet it was Crocker who found the place years ago after following the supernatural creatures.

"Have you figured out why they're focusing on her?" Vicky whispered as she and Crocker looked through the broken glass window. "I thought they'd been spending their energy on Timmy, so why are they all of a sudden interested in this girl?"

"They've been interested in her because she's not your sister," Crocker whispered back harshly. "They've had to start over." Vicky's heart dropped and she glared at the two fairies with confusion and anger.

"Are you saying they targeted Tootie?"

"For years. She was supposed to become Timmy's lover now, they didn't anticipate a switch. He has to reach a certain point. Because your sister switched with someone else, they now have to start from square one…" Vicky gripped the windowsill and watched Wanda pick up a strange looking cell phone. "They need to conceal every ounce of reality in that girl, make her believe this is her true home. Make her a citizen of this town as though she is Tootie, any connections or reminders of the outside world-of reality…is bad."

"Intercepted another voicemail," Cosmo blurted to his wife. Wanda's lips stretched into a smile while Cosmo hit the play button. Vicky didn't understand what this meant, but the expression on Crocker's face was calm and collected.

"Do you know what that means, Mr. Crocker?"

"Yes." Crocker looked over to her and exhaled softly. "They've used their magic to route Trina's phone to an enchanted burner phone. Every call she gets, every voicemail that comes, it will not hit that girl's phone but will be routed to theirs. That way, she can't be contacted by anyone outside of Dimmsdale, she will thereby forget the memories that she has of outside life. I've mentioned this."

They fell silent when a man's voice echoed in the room. He was older and had a deep tone, but spoke as a father to his daughter. His voice trembled as he said the words that would never reach his daughter's ears.

"Trina, it's your dad. Listen, I know you and Tori are on a road trip, and I don't know if the two of you are getting along or not. I hope you are. I've been working this case, and it has been making me think very seriously about retirement." The man paused to collect himself, and Vicky was certain she heard a sob. "

I know I haven't been there for the two of you, and there isn't much I can say to change that. It shouldn't take a simple investigation for me to see where I've gone so wrong, but the victim…" David took a deep breath and then cleared his throat. "That poor child has no family, no one that was there when they should have been. I, I want you to know that I love you. You and your sister both, and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

"You're not the little girl I used to carry on my shoulders anymore, building sandcastles on the beach or racing through the waves in the ocean. I think I never wanted to acknowledge that my girls are growing up, but you are, and I'm proud of the both of you. So things are going to change when you and your sister get home, I promise you. I'll do whatever it takes to be there for you both."

Vicky pulled away from the window and turned her back against the wall. She slid down to the ground and looked to the teacher beside her. "Monsters." Wanda and Cosmo started to laugh, piercing Vicky's heart like a knife and spurning the rage inside. "Both of them."

Crocker looked down and shook his head. "Even now, I don't know how we're going to stop them." She pulled her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, thinking back to all that happened to her over the years because of these two. Whatever their plan was, they had to be stopped before they destroyed any more lives, but how could they stop a plan that they knew nothing of? "We need to leave now, Vicky. Before they realize we're here."

"What about Trina? Her father left that message, shouldn't-"

"There isn't a thing we can do about that. Let's get moving."

"I understand…"

* * *

So what are you thinking? Why do you think Cosmo and Wanda need to make her forget everything, and do you think they can be stopped? What do you think their plan actually is, and how does Timmy come into play? Do you think Trina will ever hear her father's message? That said, how do you think Tootie will react with her own family?


	9. Princess Charming' Arrives Unmasked

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: The title of this chapter is a joke reference, but the chapter is serious. You will now see Dimmsdale unmasked.

* * *

Chapter 9 ('Princess Charming' Arrives)

"It is sometimes difficult to accept it." Tori listened to her father's voice on the phone, but only with a slight awareness to what he was saying. The phone was on speaker, and her primary attention was on the road ahead. "That's why've been so distant, I didn't want to accept that you girls were growing up."

"You had to know we weren't always going to be the kids chasing each other in the back yard, Dad."

"No, that's where you're wrong, sweetie. To a father, his little girl is always a little girl, but there comes a time he has to accept that she may not be little to the world anymore. I'm sorry."

She didn't have time to have this discussion, but his words didn't fall short. They resonated within her and she was thrilled to hear him, but it wouldn't matter if she couldn't convince Trina to give her family a chance. Tori clicked her tongue and snapped her gaze onto Tootie. The girl was stirring from an hour-long nap.

"Honestly dad, it may be too late. Trina may not be coming back." She had to be honest, though there was only so much she could tell him. Her father gasped and Tootie looked up at her while rubbing one eye with her finger. "A good part of this trip is to try and talk her out of leaving."

"Why does she-"

"Maybe if you and mom paid a little more attention to us before, we wouldn't be having this problem right now." Her voice rose and lashed out as a snake attacking its prey. She couldn't see her father wince, but she could hear it with the guilt in his voice.

"I don't have a reason for you, Tori"

"I don't need reasons, and I don't think Trina's looking for excuses either." Tori wasn't trying to be hard on him, but given her own angers with him and coupling that with Tootie's deception and the frustration of this road trip, there wasn't anyone that would be seeing her good side for a while. "Just parents that haven't been there, that's all. You and mom gave us great childhoods, but then you just stopped. Not only did mom start her damn affair, but you're too weak to even confront her about it. Do you even know how long she's been sleeping with your so called best friend?"

"A long time." David's voice became deathly still, and his breathing labored. Yes. What do you expect me to do, Tori? She's my wife, your mother. I've tried to stay together…"

She rolled her eyes and turned onto an exit ramp. "Maybe look at why she's cheating? I don't know!" Her arms stiffened and her free foot tapped absently on the ground beside the pedal. "You've been stuck in your stupid office, hiding in your paperwork for years, it's like you don't even have time or care much about your family anymore. You've pushed _all_ of us away. You can try to change, but don't think that it's going to just be overnight that Trina or I can forgive you. You want to have a relationship with us, you're going to have to work for it."

She wanted things to go back to the way they'd once been, but even if she could get through to Trina, she had her doubts about whether or not they could ever get back to that life again.

Part of her blamed her friends, part of her blamed herself, but she knew in the end it was David and Holly never paying attention to their daughters that led to the things that both she and Trina did.

Tori hung up the phone and let her shoulders fall and breathed sharply as they passed a sign that read _London, Oregon_. "Honestly Tootie, I know what it feels like try and garner attention from people. To feel unappreciated, unloved, neglected." Tootie raised an eyebrow at her and pushed her fingers up into her hair as she perched her head on the palm of her hand. "That's why I put my everything into that damn school, into pleasing my friends. I never pleased myself, and I guess I never made Trina happy the way she deserved to."

"And she went through the same thing. So why did you always treat her so negatively? Why did she have a reason to give up on you?"

"Because I hadn't been there for her." She stopped in front of the slightly twisted and unstable steel bridge in the small town. To her amazement, the tale had been correct, she could see nothing on the other side of the bridge besides the mountain.

The mountain wasn't as large as she thought, but if there was a town at the top, there would be some sort of indicator. She took a deep breath and looked over to Tootie; the girl was staring intensely across the bridge.

"This is the way," Tootie whispered, "I can feel it." Tori exited the vehicle and walked to the bridge, hoping to study it and see if they could get across. There were brambles, vines, and some fallen trees that littered the bridge, but it didn't appear that it would cause a problem.

Tori slid her hands to her waist and looked up to the top of the mountain. It seemed to touch the clouds with its peak, and she could trace with her eyes a road that spiraled down the behemoth.

"Then there'd better be something at the top." She positioned her hand above her eyes, shielding them from the sun. "I can't tell you how many times I sided with my friends, just to make them happy, at my sister's expense. I know Jade and the others didn't like Trina, they had their reasons-"

"Did you ever ask why?"

"No." She lowered her hand and blew out a heavy sigh. "I figure it's their own vanities. Trina got into that school because of martial arts, and only partly because of the singing lessons our grandmother put us through growing up. She hates the singing, so she tries to focus on the athleticism. Jade, Beck, Andre, Cat and Robbie…none of them can understand how athleticism is a talent or skill. They only think in terms of singing, acting, dancing, and anybody that doesn't do those things is worthless or a 'talentless hack'."

Tori walked to the middle of the bridge and turned her head over the shoulder as Tootie left the vehicle. Tootie was shaking her head and staring back with an accusative glare. "That sounds unfair."

"It is." Tori grabbed a fallen branch and hefted it over the edge of the bridge, then watched as it fell into the rushing waters below. It splintered and disappeared almost instantly, and if they weren't careful, that would be them. She turned away from the edge and watched Tootie remove some of the debris from the bridge. "I wanted so badly to have friends, to be accepted and appreciated, that I just went along with them. I didn't care who we stepped on as long as I had friends, I guess I never thought it would cost me my sister."

Then maybe it took this switch between Tootie and Trina for her to grow up and realize where she'd been going so wrong. In a world where the two girls went through the same turmoil, the same neglect from their parents, they should stand together rather than stand apart.

"They're not bad people, your friends, they just have their own beliefs and philosophies. Why would you want to be friends with somebody that treated your family like trash? Why wouldn't you stand up to them, and if they accept you after that, then they're good."

Tori's lips clamped shut and the corners of her mouth sank back into her cheeks. "I know." She returned to the car and quickly returned her sunglasses over her eyes. "Let's get moving."

As much as it pained her, she had to accept Tootie's words. She never wanted to stand up to her friends because she was afraid doing so meant losing them.

However, it wasn't just Tootie that made her come to a certain understanding. The phone call with Vicky some time ago was what put her in her place. She could never forget the girl's words: _Friends come and go, but your siblings will always be there, unless you drive them away. _

She always thought her sister would be there forever, that nothing could tear them apart. Love was a two way street, and she finally understood that if she didn't show that, then she gave nothing for Trina to hold on to.

As for her friends, a true friend will accept when you stand up for family. If they understood and respected her wishes for them to treat Trina with proper respect, then they were true. If they rejected her because she wanted them to respect her sister, then that was not her problem, it was theirs and they didn't deserve her friendship.

"Let's just hurry the hell up," Tori grumbled, "If my sister's up this mountain…I'm not waiting any longer."

Traversing the mountain was dangerous, and with every turn they made, it felt as though they were going to fall over the edge. As they progressed, Tootie acknowledged some memories returning to her, but the girl still didn't know much other than Dimmsdale was at the top of the mountain.

At the worst possible time, Tori's phone started to ring, and she answered it with a sharp and angry voice. "What?"

"Well jeez," Jade replied, "Snap my head off, why don't you." Tori's muscles relaxed as the path opened up and they arrived at the top of the mountain. "Beck and I were curious how the road trip was going. Is Trina annoying you yet?"

"Don't do this right now, Jade."

"Sorry. We're just making sure you two are getting along." She heard a chuckle in the background and rolled her eyes in response. "I think this is the longest the two of you have been alone together."

"Not quite. Do you need anything besides talking shit about my sister?" This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have right now. The talk she needed to have with her friends was going to have to wait until she got back, with or without Trina.

Jade stammered momentarily and cleared her throat. "Actually yeah, we just wanted to know what's been going on. You haven't exactly told us anything about the trip. Hell, the whole fairy thing was odd-"

"Fairies do not exist, Jade, let's not start this again. There are no fairies, there are no towns in which the very life is being drained." As they approached the edge of the mountaintop, the clouds appeared to give way and revealed a bridge made of brick, and a circle of mushrooms that appeared at its base. Her heart stopped and she looked over at Tootie with shock. "What the hell is that?"

"I don't remember a bridge _off_ the mountain," Tootie replied. The girl squinted and leaned out the window of the car, staring down the bridge. "On second thought, I think I remember something similar. That bridge goes down to land across a large body water, a giant lake or maybe ocean…We need to get to the other side."

"Ocean? Great…Please tell me it's not a long drive."

"You're crossing an ocean?" Jade asked loudly. Tori flinched and returned the phone to her ear. She changed the gear on her vehicle and started driving across the bridge, it seemed sturdy and strong.

"We're on a bridge."

"And we're driving a mustang," Tootie laughed, "Going after what your friend calls 'fairies'. If this is a fairy tale, you're prince charming!" Tori coughed loudly and shot an angry glare at the girl.

"There are no fairies!" She paused and lowered her voice to a mutter. "And that would be _Princess_ Charming, in which case, no I am not."

She kept Jade on the phone while crossing the bridge. It was a long drive, but thankfully stable and safer than the drive up the mountain had been. She was listening to Jade go on about what all of the friends were doing, such as getting involved in plays, or bugging Sikowitz's teacher assistant-Sinjin-to tell them their grades on some project they did.

At the end of the bridge was a field of Zinna and Forget-Me-Not flowers. Tori's eyes widened and she let out a scoff. "Ugh, those are ugly ass flowers." She sped onward, crushing the flowers beneath her tires and causing Tootie to cry out.

"How could you just run over them like that?"

"How could I not?" She loved flowers, but these particular types were among the kinds she loathed. Jade laughed on her end and started going on about the flowers.

"Ooh Zinna and Forget-me-not? Those are a fairy's favorite." Tori moved her right hand from the steering wheel placed it on her face.

"Goddamn it, Jade."

"Why do you hate flowers?"

"I don't, I just hate those kinds. I told you about my grandmother that gave us singing lessons when we were growing up? Her husband wasn't as good of a person and he always had these kinds of flowers somewhere-specially grown. Apparently they were his mother's favorite."

Tori clenched her teeth and sucked the air in through the spaces in between them. She remembered the arguments that her grandparents would so often have, and the bruising that her grandmother so often said was her bruising easily.

"Anytime Trina and I visited them, we didn't like the man." She shook her head and felt a tingling sensation in her fingers. Beside her, Tootie was gazing at her with a terrible sorrow. Tori cleared her throat and squinted her eyes at the field in front of them. It was a single dirt path with rows of flowers framing the sides, and plains of soft, green grass that seemed to stretch for miles.

"Grandpa was creepy, quiet, and his eyes were soulless. You can imagine two little girls, never seeing anyone or anything so evil. Trina and I were terrified of the man. When he did speak, he screamed. He was controlling and insane, and the only thing he truly cared about were the flowers he was growing in his garden. That was it."

"What happened to him?"

"God knows, but he passed away when we were young, but somehow he always managed to grow those god awful flowers long after death." She furrowed her brow and scoffed. "Trina and I, we'd have nightmares about those blasted things to the point we stopped going to see Grandma because we were afraid Grandpa's ghost was lurking about."

Their grandmother eventually passed away herself, and when she did, the new owner ended up destroying the garden by spraying it with acid. It happened simply because the flowers still grew, but when the acid broke the soil, the flowers never returned.

Tootie looked out at the direction they were going, then pointed. "Tori, look!" Up ahead, she saw a sight that she hadn't seen just a few seconds ago. Her heart stopped and she gradually pushed down on the break.

"The hell?" The sky had grown dark, and what appeared to be a polluted city seemed to rise from the ground. There was a sign, nearly split in half, with ancient letters carved into it that read _Welcome to Dimmsdale_. She pulled her phone from her ear and turned her head to the girl next to her. "Tootie? Was Dimmsdale always so polluted?"

Tootie pulled her head back, her eyes grew wide and her voice trembled with uncertainty. "N-No. Part of the whole creepiness to the town is that it's always perfect. It never rains, there's no pollution, there's no turmoil…no crime-it's a perfect town."

As she approached the city line, she saw a biker on a street in the distance. He wore a red shirt and biker shorts, he had on a dirty yellow jacket and was pedaling the bicycle very slowly. His body was thin, almost as though he were a skeleton, his head was covered in sweat and his eyes were full of sadness and exhaustion. The man looked to be performing some daily routine, yet his body trembled and shook with tremendous pain.

On the phone, Tori could hear chatter, but she was so stricken with fear and confusion that she could hardly pay attention. "Um Jade?" She spoke slowly and scanned the town with her eyes, stopping them on rows of Zinna flowers. "I'm going to have to let you go…"

She hung up the phone and carefully set it down between the two seats. Tootie's lips quivered and her eyes clung to the lethargic, shambling skeleton-like people walking down the streets as if there was nothing truly wrong.

"Tootie, what the hell did you bring my sister into?"

"I-I don't know. I know I didn't like Dimmsdale, but for my own reasons, it was _never_ like this. Not that I can remember."

"You've been outside the town for so long." Could Jade be right? It seemed impossible, but maybe the girl was onto something. "I wonder why you forgot the way here, or even why you've never seen the town like this until now. It looks…it looks like something out of a nightmare, not a dream."

Tootie took a deep breath and replied in a swift breath. "Yeah." Tori closed her eyes and shook herself.

"Okay. We need to find my sister and figure out what the hell's going on."

* * *

So now you see Dimmsdale as it truly is, or at least part of it. This is what Vicky and Crocker see as well. What are your thoughts through this chapter?


	10. Dying Town

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: An early post just to get you to chapter 10. I wanted to reach this point, here you go.

* * *

Chapter 10 (Dying Town)

"What's going on?" Tootie picked up a red apple and showed it to Tori, who tentatively cradled it in her hand. The apple seemed old and had blemishes of rot that covered its sides. She looked up at the vender and a look of disgust spread across her face. "This isn't right, Tori. I swear if I knew the town was this bad, I would never have let Trina come."

She was busy focusing on the vendor, too much so to listen. The vender was a tall man with a white apron and a green shirt beneath. His face was ragged and his messy grey hair shielded his hauntingly pale gaze from view. His muscles atrophied and what may have once been a large belly was sunken, creating a cavity beneath his ribcage.

"Tori?"

She pulled her eyes from the man and set the apple back in the bin Tootie removed it from. "I heard you, Tootie. I'm still processing what the hell is going on with this town." As much as it pained her to admit, she was thinking more and more of what Jade said regarding fairies. "They can't possibly exist." She looked to a bush beside her and cringed upon seeing the Zinna flowers. "We're in Oregon, zinna shouldn't even be growing."

Given the bridge going over the ocean near the mountain, they were likely to be on an island outside of the Oregon and California border.

Tootie picked one of the flowers and dropped it to the ground where she promptly crushed it with her foot, a sight that was pleasing. "What did Jade say about fairies and their connection to these kinds of flowers?" Tootie crinkled her nose and crossed her arms. "I'm not saying I believe in fairies, but right now, Jade's reasoning is the most logical explanation for what's happening to this town." Tori rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"What's happening to this town is famine, Tootie. The lack of nutrients is causing these people to be malnourished, lethargic…" She raised an eyebrow as three children in a nearby grassy square threw a ball at each other. While it looked like normal, everyday play, these children were slouched and their expressions bore that of deep exhaustion and overwhelming exertion. "Listless?"

"Then why do people remain in the town, Tori?"

"Well um-you saw how hard it was getting here. Maybe they just can't leave for financial reasons or it's too difficult getting down the damn mountain." Tootie chuckled once and Tori snapped a finger at her. "And if the word 'fairy' comes out of your mouth…Jade is _not_ right about this!"

"Will you be purchasing an apple?" The vendor asked. His haunting voice sent an icy chill down her spine, causing her to take a step back and take a strong breath. "We have bananas, oranges, and grapes as well." He extended a long, thin arm and hovered his frail hand above the merchandise, then waved it slowly over all of the fruit.

The bananas were coated black, the oranges had white fuzz attached to their peel, and the grapes were shriveled. She felt her stomach lurch and threw her hand over her mouth. Tootie's face went green and she turned away, groaning painfully.

Tori lifted her hand and fought to muster up a polite smile. "No, I'm good." The man's frown deepened and he started to turn away.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you." She watched another resident walk up and purchase one of the bananas. Then the person peeled it, revealing the blackened fruit, and taking a large bite. The bile that churned in her stomach grew violent as she watched this person chew, with brownish chunks of the mushy fruit framing their mouth.

She put a hand to her stomach and started to walk away. Tootie followed after her and looked over her shoulder. Some people were staring as though they recognized the girl.

"Screw it, I'm calling Jade." She grabbed her phone and dialed her friend's number. She struggled to ignore the strange smell of sulfur that stung her nose and closed her eyes so she could mentally disassociate herself from this place while focusing on the ringing phone.

Tootie stayed close by her side, leaning in so she could listen once Jade answered. "What's going on Tori? You hung up so fast before, I thought you didn't want to talk to us or something." Tori's eyelids opened partially and the corners of her mouth sank.

"I had a hypothetical question that I wanted to ask." She took a deep breath and glared at the zinna flowers on the nearby bush. "First off what were you saying about zinna and forget-me-not flowers and their connections to these 'fairy' things?"

"Why suddenly interested?"

"Bored." She rolled her eyes and moved one hand to her waist. These flowers were the most colorful thing in town, and that was the least disturbing thing here.

"Okay." She heard a shuffling sound, then a thump. After a few seconds, she could hear the sound of pages being swiftly thrown about. "Here we go. It says here that zinna, and forget-me-not symbolize memory. That said they are harbingers of memory and endowed with mystical properties."

"You don't say?" She walked to a nearby bench and sat down. Tori motioned to Tootie and waited until the girl was next to her. "So I guess these fairies of yours would use them to their advantage?"

"Yes. Fairies can surround a victim with these flowers and drain them of their memories, creating a blank slate that allows them to manipulate the memories of the victim. That doesn't mean the victim doesn't retain their memories, it just means that the flowers keep them from being able to recall these things without some sort of connection to those hidden memories."

If this were the case, then she didn't see how it could be that the flowers hadn't affected her. "And let's say hypothetically that fairies existed and they surround a town with these nauseating floral arrangements. Why might they do that?"

"In that case, they're trying to manipulate the memories the residents have versus what outside residents see." She listened to rustling pages once more and waited for Jade to finish. Her eyes darted to the right and she squinted at the flowers. "It says here that if a fairy has surrounded a town with these flowers, they're trying to hide the true city from the outside world. When an outsider passes into the town, the flower immediately begins to transform the outsider's mind and vision to see what the fairies want them to see."

"Strange." She looked at Tootie and whispered about that not occurring with them. After several seconds of thought, Tootie snapped her fingers and pointed to the car.

"You ran over the flowers, Tori." She moved her head back and huffed loudly.

"Okay Jade, what if the outsider destroys the flowers upon entering? Say they drive through the flowers, crushing them with tires or feet?"

"Then they destroy the magic that would have affected them. They'll see the town as it truly is." Jade cleared her throat and Tori cringed. "If a fairy has a hold of an entire town, then they're up to something. Usually they'll drain the residents of their energy, put the residents in a trancelike state-a spell that manipulates them into seeing and believing what the fairy wants them to. Their happiness, their joy, their energy becomes sucked dry to power up the fairies and serve the end goal that a fairy has."

"Damn." Tori's hand moved up to her chest and she watched the same biker ride by her. The resident of this city already looked like they'd been used up, as if they were trapped in a dream-world for decades. "And what happens when the fairies are done, Jade? What happens when the get what they want?"

"Well. You know the legend of Atlantis?"

"Yes…"

"You know the bodies of Pompeii?"

"Of course."

"The city allegedly disappears, Tori. If the city is ever discovered, and one town was discovered long ago according to this book…dead bodies will be strewn about like the victims that lived in Pompeii. Forever frozen in time, their bodies worn and skeletal. Dead, everyone dies in an instant because their life essence has been used up by the fairy."

Tori's hand moved over her mouth and Tootie let out a startling cry. This was a terrifying concept, and Tori still didn't know what to believe. The residents of this town already looked dead, so they likely didn't have much longer to go before whatever was happening to them killed everyone.

"How long?" The words came out a stammer and her hand drifted up to her throat. "How long do residents have before the fairy's magic kills them? How long can the city be sustained for?" Jade muttered some more while rustling through the pages.

"Says here, a few decades. Fifty, at most, but fairies usually fulfill their goals quickly. If they fail, they remain until they can find someone else to finish their plan."

"And what plan is that, typically?"

"Every city has a 'magic potential', Tori. Where do you think fairies are created? Usually they find a kid to latch onto from birth, reveal themselves when the child is old enough, then do everything they can to make that kid happy. They help him or her through the stages of life until they reach the peak of happiness…and when they hit that point, all the energy the fairies have sucked from the town over the years is pushed into that kid and they're turned into one of them. When they're transformed into one of them, they're sent to the dominion of the fairies."

"And?"

"Everyone left behind in that town dies."

"How do they even manage it? Is everything mental manipulation?"

"Yes." Tori made eye contact with Tootie and pressed her lips together. The girl was trembling with tremendous fear, but still seemed insistent on listening to Jade. She finally spoke, asking Jade a question that Tori was already thinking about.

"How do they even manage this," Tootie started, "How do they get the kid to think everything's okay? What is the 'peak' point as well?"

"They control _everything_ in that kid's life, from the grades they get in school to the love of their life. From the moment of birth, they map everything out, including who the kid is going to fall in love with down the road." Tootie stopped trembling and pursed her lips.

"Why would they care about that?"

"Because they need to ensure that person is blind too. If that person isn't under their spell when the kid reaches the 'peak', then it won't work and the kid will wake up. Think about it, the happiest moment of someone's life is the rush and thrill of making love with somebody you truly care about. Sex. Even if it means they push the kid through the process of marriage because one or both parties wants to wait, they will, but the end result is that child needs to have sex with someone completely under the spell of the fairy and manipulated by the fairy-a living puppet."

"What happens to that person?"

"They die too when the kid is turned into a fairy. The fairies no longer have use for them." Tori put her hand to her stomach and closed her eyes. She didn't know what all of this had to do with them, or with Trina, but it seemed Tootie had some idea.

"No," Tori growled and shook her head, "I still think it's all baloney." She wasn't inclined to believe such a tall tale, no matter what shape the town appeared to be in. There were no instances of fairies, and this certainly wasn't what was happening here. "Thanks for answering the questions Jade, but I need to go."

She hung up the phone and looked to Tootie. Tootie was holding her arms over her abdomen and rocking back and forth. "What have I done?" The girl asked. "It was me, I know it was me. It has to be."

"What?"

"The strong crush I had on Timmy Turner when I was a kid. The strange stuff that always happened around him…then Trina starts to fall for him when we trade? Tori, he's the 'potential', and I was supposed to be the person he fell for. My leaving disrupted that, but, but what does that mean?"

"It means nothing." Tori moved in front of her and slammed her hands down onto Tootie's shoulders, looking sternly in the girl's eyes. "Listen to me, and listen closely." She spoke slowly and sternly. "There are no fairies. I don't know what the hell is wrong with this city, but fairies do not exist. There is no fairy world, there is no magic potential, and there's no unwillingly manipulated lover that ends up giving their life so the potential will become one of the fairies."

"But what if-"

"Enough! I won't hear any more about fairies!" She pulled away and ran her fingers across her forehead. "Let's just find Trina and get the hell out of here."

* * *

So what do you think? Can Trina escape a fate that was meant for Tootie? Is this truly what Cosmo and Wanda have in store, and how do you think they'll break that curse? That said, do you think Tori's denial of all this is just frustration, or is she just closed off because she doesn't know how to face something that should be a myth? We still only know so little about Cosmo and Wanda-and the rest of the fairy realm.


	11. Daddy's Girl No More

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 11 (Daddy's Girl No More)

Trina walked with Timmy along the coast of the lake hidden away within the Dimmsdale forest. She had a smoothie cup in her hand and was she was sipping the chilled drink. "So tell me about Los Angeles, Trina. Also, how did you end up meeting Tootie?" Trina pulled the straw from her lips and smiled at him.

"There was this camp, and they had a class on self-esteem and assertiveness. We met at that class. The camp overall was an athletics camp." Tootie was a true gymnast as Trina was, and much of what they learned was from that camp. "Our teacher was the one that pointed out how alike we looked, so we struck up a friendship."

From what she remembered, it was Vicky that made Tootie leave for the camp. These days Tootie swore it was the best decision she was ever forced to make. "Tootie hated this town, but even she doesn't understand why exactly." Timmy raised an eyebrow and Trina shrugged. "I think she used to say that she always got a lot of bad shit that happened to her or to her sister, so there were a lot of nightmares she ended up having."

"Oh god." He curled a finger at his chin and closed his eyes. "Well when I was younger, I'd have Cosmo and Wanda do things to Vicky. Most often temporary, but yeah, she would be so cruel and I wouldn't think twice about having them change her into something like a snake…" Trina cringed and Timmy opened his eyes partway then let out a heavy sigh. "I was young and it was stupid of me to do. I'd never do something like that now."

"You and those two fairies, I suspect you've done a lot of things when you were a kid that you shouldn't have."

Timmy pushed his hands into his pockets and laughed once. He turned his eyes skyward and sloped his shoulders down. "Unfortunately. I think I've nearly destroyed this town a million times, but Wanda always fixed it. Whatever happened, she made sure to fix everything. I doubt the residents have forgotten a lot of it, though-like the robots rampaging the city because I wanted to bring a video game to life."

Now she understood more of what Tootie meant when over the years she'd been terrorized by the unexplainable. Thankfully Timmy wasn't willing to do such destructive activities anymore. "What about your teacher? He seems to have a vendetta against you." Timmy scratched his head and laughed.

"I don't know, sometimes he seems to have more of a vendetta against Cosmo and Wanda." Her eyes wandered over to the zinna flowers nearby and her stomach twisted. A strange mist seemed to shroud the flower, but as quickly as the mist appeared, it was gone. Still, there was something about the flower that despite its beauty, made her feel sick to her stomach. "Are you okay, Trina?"

"I'm fine." She glanced over her shoulder and breathed easy while scanning her surroundings. "It's strange. We're completely alone for once. Usually those two are somewhere nearby." Timmy raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"I'm glad they're not here, to be honest. Privacy at last, if you ask me." He kicked a branch off the path. Trina hurried after him and wrapped an arm around his. "So. Your family, surely there are some good things about them? Everyone's got something positive."

"Well…I don't know." She didn't want to talk about them, much less think about them, but Timmy deserved to hear some things. "My sister is obsessed with being a singer; it's pretty much her entire life now." She rolled her eyes and threw her hair over her shoulder. "Dad's stuck with his nose in his job, forever chasing that dollar, and mom of course is cheating on him."

"Come on now, they can't be all that bad." She scoffed and watched Timmy spin and walk backwards. He spread his arms out and his lips curled into a charming smile while his eyes dazzled with a spectacular gleam. "What was your childhood like? What was life like before Hollywood Arts?"

She pursed her lips and locked her wrists behind her back as the image of a little girl came to her mind. The child was small and sat on her father's shoulders, laughing wildly as her waist-length hair bounced with each step the man took. The warm breeze on her cheeks carried with it the smell of sand and the ocean waters.

The water rose to her father's shoulders and embraced her feet, causing her to curl her tiny toes inwards. _"Take me further in, Daddy! I wanna swim this time!"_ The girl laughed as her father started to go beneath the water.

_"Launch off when you're ready sweetheart, I'll be right here."_

_ "Don't let her in the deep end, David!"_ The girl looked over her shoulder to see her mother waving through the air. Holly had on a white sun hat and black bikini. Beside her, a three year old girl sat on a blanket and played with the sand.

"Things were definitely better growing up. I have very few memories of my childhood, though." This was the truth, she could barely remember their visits to the beach or why they were even there. Those childhood memories barely lasted before twisting into something terrifying and negative.

_"You're a fucking bitch!"__Trina's voice lashed out at the dark haired girl standing before her. Jade's arms were crossed, she was leaning to the right, and her lips were twisted into a smug grin. Tori had gone to pick up some pizza, leaving the two girls alone. _

_ "Aw honey, are you mad because I'm right?" Her heart shattered as Jade circled her, moving her eyes up and down her body. "You want to know why no one likes you? You're insane, you're hideous, you're pathetic. Even Sinjin probably doesn't want to touch you. Your own family wants you gone." Trina clenched her fists and pressed her lips tight as Jade grabbed a strand of Trina's hair and flicked it to the side._

_ "You know why I don't like you? Because it's your fault your sister came back to Hollywood Arts. I drove her off for hitting on my boyfriend, and he still gives her all the attention, and then you encouraged her to give it another shot."_

_ "So you have to treat me like shit?"_

_ "You deserve it."_

_ "No I don't!"_

_ "Come on, even Tori complains about you on a daily basis. I think you've overstayed your welcome." The front door opened and Tori entered with a pizza box. Trina turned away from her and Jade smiled at her friend. "Tori, I see you got the food. It's all in one piece?"_

_ "Yeah." Tori frowned and stared at Trina as she set the box carefully on the coffee table. "What's going on here, Jade?" _

_ "Nothing. Trina and I were getting to know each other a little. Are the others on their way yet?" _

_ "Um…yes." Trina started to sniffle, then quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. "Trina, are you okay?" She responded that she was fine and hurried up the stairs._

"I don't have any good memories of my family after my sister went to that school." Trina folded her arms across her chest and crinkled her nose. "People always told me to make some good memories, but there was never anything to be had. I think my family just wanted me gone, so I left once I met Tootie. Yet somehow, _somehow_ that girl says my family gets along with her.

"And you get along with hers, but neither family knows that you two switched. Right?" She stopped walking and curled her fingers over the tip of her chin. Her eyes dipped down as a feeling of guilt chipped away at her heart. "Do you ever think about going back? Telling them the truth?"

"They hate me enough, Timmy. Not that I think they'd care that we switched lives, but they'd just think worse of me if they knew the truth." There was no way she was going back, not after all that happened. "Besides, I can't stand the monsters my sisters hang around. Tori's completely blind to their horror too." She thought back to the puppet show that Beck and the boys put on, then scoffed violently. "Even my father's blind enough to let them treat me like shit."

Timmy moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She closed her eyes and felt his tender kiss on the back of her neck. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." The tips of her eyelids moistened and she sank back against his chest.

"You didn't know. It's okay. Besides, the meditation helps me to forget…" Though it seemed like it had taken away her positive memories, which made her want to forget the negative much more. "All I want to think about is this place. Nothing more."

_"I said let me go." Trina pulled out of Beck's grasp and called for her father, the sense of urgency in her voice was unmistakable. Her eyes lit up with hope as she watched David run down the stairs, so full of concern. Beck, Andre, and Robbie shot behind the couch, and to her horror, pushed small sock puppets up into view._

_ "What's going on?" David asked, clearly studying the three men that were alone in the house with his daughter. _

_ "They're scaring me, daddy. They're getting into a fight…"_

_ "Nonsense," Beck laughed. Trina's eyes widened as he laughed and smacked Robbie's shoulder. "We were just having a little fun." David closed his eyes and dropped his head. "You know Trina, she's just having one of her psychotic episodes."_

_ "I see. I have work to do." He smirked teasingly at Trina and clicked his tongue. "You're going far away once you go to college, right?" She threw her hand to her chest with a gasp and watched with tears in her eyes as her father made his way up the stairs, leaving her at the mercy of the three men. _

In Los Angeles, David played his home security footage on the big screen. He stood with his arms crossed and his face long as Beck, Andre and Robbie sat on the couch and twiddled their thumbs. "Tori told me my daughter wanted to leave, and I've been trying to figure out why." Jade and Cat were behind them. Cat was looking shamefully at her friends and Jade had her head bowed. "I've spent hours watching, wondering…trying to figure out what could have transpired in my home."

He turned around, his heart was breaking and his voice shook with the force of anger and sadness. "I trusted you with my daughters. Trina was my little girl…a father never forgets when his daughter was a child with pigtails and bowties in her hair." He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, then flared his nostrils. "I should be angry at the three of you men-or even at you, Jade."

"I'm sorry sir," Jade answers, "I speak for all of us."

"No. My daughter wouldn't want to move if it hadn't been for me." He moved his hand over his eyes. A lump formed in his throat as tears broke from the dried and cracked skin around his eyes. "Even on that night, I should have thrown the three of you boys out when Trina screamed for help. Never would I allow…three men alone in the house with my daughter and not be watching."

"Then why did you act like you did then?" Beck dared to ask. "We would have stopped, we would have left." Jade smacked Beck on the head and his body jerked as his hand flew up to the sore spot.

"You lied to the man in front of Trina, Beck! How could you act like that. Even if it was a long time ago…"

"I can only hope Tori convinces Trina to come back home." David paced to the right and removed his hand from his face. "Holly and I, we're going to make things right if she'll give us a chance."

"Tori does seem stressed lately," Cat remarked, "I hope she and Trina can make amends." Cat's head rolled to the right and her lips started to pout. "I thought you and Mrs. Vega were having problems?"

"We are." There was a big fight they had over her affair, and he even broke the long lasting friendship he once had with Gary. Still, Holly was breaking up with the man, and even suggested marriage counseling. "I think-I think maybe it really is time for me to retire. To pay more attention to my family, if it isn't too late."

More than anything he wanted to chew these kids out, to tear them limb from limb, but he was just as much to blame as any of them were. He'd made his little girl want to leave. She hated him, and likely wanted to forget the man that once cared for her, and it was killing him.

His hand cupped over his mouth and he walked towards the kitchen counter. _"Where did things go so wrong?"_ His body shook with fear as the tears ran down the sides of his face. _"Please Tori, bring your sister back home with you."_

"Mr. Vega?"

He straightened his back and his voice deepened intensely. "Leave me. I do not want to see any of you until my daughters are home." They were getting off easy, but all the years of security footage that caught their mistreatment certainly warranted a storm. "I had those cameras installed because as a cop, you can never be too careful. No burglars ever broke into my home, but as far as I'm concerned, I allowed the very thing tearing my family apart inside my home…to do more damage than a robber could ever do."

"We're sorry. How many times do we have to say it?"

"Your apologies mean nothing to me." He looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at them. "I was too blind to see how you treated Tori and her sister. Too blind and stuck in my own selfish ways to protect my children. As I'm concerned you're the worst threat, and you'd better hope Tori doesn't come home alone."

The group stiffened and began to glance at one another. When Robbie asked what he meant, he turned his head back and gripped the edge of the counter so tight as to turn his knuckles white.

"If Trina decides she wants to leave her family behind, if Tori comes back alone…I do not want any of you darkening my house again. Because I could never forgive any of you, more than I could ever forgive myself for driving away my little girl."

* * *

What do you think? Despite the negative memories, there's always good amid the bad, but why can't Trina remember? Do you suppose that magic is truly hiding away those positive memories? Do you think Tori can remind her about the good, and perhaps reach her before she forgets everything but Dimmsdale? What do you think Cosmo and Wanda are up to right now, they're not around, so do they know that Tori and Tootie have arrived?


	12. Taint

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 12 (Taint)

"Apparently my father just told my friends not to bother coming around if I don't bring Trina back home." Tori pushed her phone back into her purse and flicked the tip of her tongue off her front teeth. "Interesting decision he made." Tootie looked up from a nearby fountain and pointed to it.

"Old and decrepit. Like the rest of this town." Tori walked over with a hum and studied the fountain. Its base resembled a saucer that was cracked from top to bottom, the spout that should have been shooting water up was chipped and broken, with the concrete tip caved into the hole. "When I was young, this fountain looked like brand new, and the water it would shoot out was remarkable."

She folded her arms and rolled her head to the right. "The cobwebs on that thing suggest it hasn't been working since before you were born." Tootie crouched and brushed the fountain with her thumb. Her lips closed up, and she crinkled her nose and forehead.

"Yeah, I thought our mayor and the people at the city hall was doing a decent job, but apparently not." She rose to her feet and dusted off her knees. "Then again, how can you do a good job when robots rampage the streets every other day." Tori spread her arms out and opened her mouth, but decided not to say anything.

Of all that they've seen here so far, she had to say robots were the farthest from her mind. She looked up to the polluted skies and twisted her lips into a frown. "You know something, Tootie? At least robots or a town destroyed by this Turner kid seem logical." Her hands slid to her hips and her head shook from side to side. "You would have us believe, or Jade would, that this town has been devastated by mythical beings." She spoke 'fairies' with a snort. Tootie laughed once and leaned back against the fountain, her arms folded over her chest and her shoulders peaked.

"You know I'm actually partly agreeing with you, though I honestly can't think of another explanation." Tootie pushed from the fountain and lowered her arms, swaying them at her sides as she walked towards Tori. "Fairies or not, I say we figure out what's going on, find Trina, and get her out. I'm with you on that, unless there's a way to help the people here."

"I'm mainly concerned with Trina. If fairies exist, then I want her out of this town." She heard an airy laugh behind her and twisted around to see two tall, but strange-looking people standing before her. Her eyes squinted on the purple haired woman, then darted to the rotund man with green hair and a clown-like smile. "And look Tootie, two people who don't look like hell worn over…"

"All this talk of fairies?" The woman laughed again and put her hand to her chest. "In our town? Oh Cosmo, isn't that a hoot?" Tori's eyebrow rose as Cosmo broke out in wild laughter.

"Indeed it is, Wanda."

Wanda sighed and started to circle the girls. Tori could feel the woman's studious gaze on her back, so she straightened herself and tensed her arms. Tootie moved closer beside her and lifted a hand up over her mouth. "Something's not right," Tootie whispered, "I don't feel good about these two. I think we should run. Let's not do anything they say." Tori's eyelids closed and she nudged the girl in the back.

They needed information, but while she wanted to argue that point, she agreed with Tootie. The two were giving off a vibe that frightened her to the core.

"Newcomers, I imagine?" Wanda stopped circling them and Tori watched as the woman's eyes drifted from her to Tootie. Then to her surprise, for a brief moment Wanda's eyes narrowed and anger glinted in them. "I haven't seen either of you two around here before. Are you weary travelers? Will you be on your way soon, or are you staying in town for a while?"

"Tell them nothing," Tori whispered, "I don't trust them either." She felt Wanda caress her hair, then pulled away with a growl. Wanda's fingertips curled into her palm, but the woman continued to stare with a strangely pleasant smile.

"Tell me sweetie, how did you find our beautiful little island city?"

"Isn't obvious, Wanda?" Cosmo laughed and Wanda deadpanned. "That's the original Tootie-the only way for an outsider to enter is with someone that has already been here." Tori raised an eyebrow and Wanda shot Cosmo a look of annoyance.

"Stay silent please, Cosmo, and let me do the talking." Wanda flicked her hand in the air and closed her eyes as she took a step forward. "Don't be silly. She may look like our sweet Tootie…" Wanda's eyes opened partially and her smile grew more sinister as her needlelike gaze met with Tootie's. "Tell us sweetie, who are-"

"You know who she is, Wanda."

"Cosmo!"

Tori smirked at the duo and leaned to the right, her eyebrows bounced and her eyelids fell partially. "Personally, I say let the man talk." After all, the more this man revealed, the more they could figure out what was going on with this town. "And beautiful island city?" She looked to her right and huffed. "All I see is ruin and pollution."

Wanda's eyes widened and Cosmo mentioned something about the flowers not having affect. "We ran over them," Tootie blurted to Tori's dismay. The girl was shaking, and sweat was dripping down the sides of her face. Tori understood how nervous she was, but now was hardly a time to show it. "We're looking for this Tootie, too. Just saying."

"Truly?" Wanda curled a finger on her chin. The woman's nostrils spread apart and the bun on her head seemed to rise with her brow. "Tell me sweetie, how did you find this place? You've been away for so long…" Wanda shook her head and let her smile fade away. "Nevertheless, I am not certain what you expect to find in this city. There is no one here by the name of Tootie."

"Then how about Trina?" Tori spat angrily, unable to hold it in any longer. "Or Katrina. She's my sister, and she looks like this person here." Wanda's eyes darted over and narrowed upon her. "You can't hide her forever, you and that boy Turner. She's with him, isn't she? What's he doing to her?"

"I don't think I care for your tone." Wanda approached slowly, her voice lowered and her hands closed into tight fists. Tori held her breath as her heart pounded out her blood in quickened beats. "Who are you to come into our beautiful town and treat us like the outsider?" Wanda was close enough that Tori could feel the woman's icy breath poisoning her.

She did not retreat, but leaned forward and held the woman's glare with a determined ferocity of her own. "Because something tells me you don't belong here, and I don't know what it is." Her breathing stilled and she lifted her hand to point a finger out at the town. "The residents in this town look dead, or at the very least, like skeletons shambling around town. They look like they see something we don't, and the only explanation we have is from a friend of mine that believes in the work of fairies. Yet somehow, you two are the only people we've seen that look like normal human beings."

Wanda's face tensed and she scowled back at Tori. "You two don't belong here."

"You belong here about as much as we do, so I think we're on the same page."

Wanda started to smile and slowly tilted her head. "Do you have any idea what I could do to you?" Tori held back her breath and tensed her muscles. Wanda leaned back a bit and huffed angrily. "There are more things at work in this city than you understand, so before you start talking like you own the place, I suggest you act with some tact."

"What a welcome you give for people new to your 'beautiful' city. I'm almost curious why anyone would choose to stay in a place like this where the two people in the best shape are rude ass shits." Tori laughed lightly and waved her hand dismissively. "Besides, you don't scare me. There's a worse witch than you back home."

Wanda sneered and turned her back to Tori. "Jade. Correct?" The woman looked over her shoulder and Tori felt an icy sensation shoot down her spine.

"How do you know her name?"

"Oh your little 'Trina' talks about her. I'm not surprised she left you people, to be perfectly honest." Tori flinched as the words stabbed her heart. "After all, even you only care about your precious little school and the friends who could cause so much pain for your sister."

"Oh you bitch." Tori chuckled darkly and closed her eyes. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I don't? And what exactly makes you so special?" Wanda folded her arms and smirked with brilliance. "First day at that school of yours, you end up flirting with some guy, then you kiss him in front of his girlfriend. You question why that girl treats you so harshly? Quite evidently that boy still looks at you in a way that he shouldn't." Tori's heart dropped and she snarled at the witch.

"How can you know any of that? Did Trina tell you?"

"In some ways…" Wanda picked one of the zinna flowers and brought it to her nose, then breathed in the scent. Her eyes opened partially and stared out at Tori. "Would you like a whiff?"

"No."

"Pity. I suppose I can't be friendly with someone that would so willingly tear her sister apart for the praises of her friends, what was I thinking?"

"Goddamn it." She started to lunge, but stopped when she felt Tootie grab the back of her shirt.

"Don't let her provoke you," Tootie whispered, "She's trying to provoke a fight." She knew that much, but she didn't care. Still, getting into a fight wouldn't help her cause right now. She tore away from Tootie and studied Wanda closely while imagining all the ways to tear this woman limb by limb.

"And you dear…" Wanda turned upon Tootie and approached the girl. Tori felt the girl's body tense up, so she took a step in front of the girl. "I won't harm you, I just want to talk to you." A clicking noise echoed in the air, interrupting Wanda and drawing everyone's attention.

There was a girl with auburn hair standing several paces away, her legs were spread apart and her arms were stretched forward, and her hands clutched a pistol. "Step the hell away from my sister." Tori took a step back as Tootie gasped.

"Vicky?" Vicky looked relatively normal sized, unaffected by whatever affliction this town's residents had. Wanda turned around and lowered her arms.

"I've got six silver bullets in this gun, I'll fire two and both will hit their marks." Cosmo turned as well and began to tremble with fear. "So I won't say it again. Step away from my sister."

"You would kill us now? What would that solve?" Wanda started to approach, but when Vicky pushed her gun forward, the woman stopped. "Shoot, but know that if you kill me, you condemn this town. Would you condemn the town that you're trying so desperately to find a way to save?"

"If it means keeping your hands away from my sister, I'll chance it."

"No you won't." Tori flinched at a man's voice and glanced out the corner of her eyes to see a tall man with glasses and a strange haircut. In his hand he was holding a bag of sugar. Tootie's eyes widened and she let out a startled cry.

"Mr. Crocker? What's going on here!"

"No time." Crocker glanced to the green haired man and smirked. "Oh Cosmo…" Wanda turned her head and Cosmo's eyes grew once Crocker dumped the contents of the bag onto the ground. Cosmo flew to the sugar and Wanda hissed at him.

"Cosmo, no!"

Tori's jaw dropped as Jade's words regarding a fairy's compulsive urge to count each and every grain. While Cosmo started separating the grains, Tori noticed Wanda trembling. "Oh you've got to be shitting me," she muttered, "Don't tell me they're-"

"Fairies," Crocker answered, "Dark fairies. That's their human form." Wanda dove for the sugar. Tori groaned and glanced at Vicky to see the girl holstering the gun. "Now hurry and follow us now. Cosmo and Wanda have learned to count extremely fast, there's little time." He waved in the air, but Tori only exchanged a confused look with Tootie.

"First tell us what the hell is going on."

"We'll explain." Vicky grabbed Tootie's wrist and yanked the girl with her. "Now come on." Seeing no other option, and watching the pile of sugar shrink, Tori hurried after the group.

* * *

So in this town it looks as though the ones to be trusted are Crocker and Vicky, but do you think they're the only two not affected by the evil magic? How do you think they could possibly save the town?


	13. The Rebels

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 13 (The Rebels)

"My car is still parked in the city." Tori looked out the back windshield of Crocker's vehicle as they fled the town. Tootie was oddly silent, and Vicky hadn't said much. So it would appear that Mr. Crocker was leading this group. "Where are you taking us? I need to find my sister." She looked to the rearview mirror and saw Vicky's eyes turn to the mirror.

"Trina's fine." Vicky's lips pressed together and cracks stretched from her lips. "She's with that Turner kid. The fairies are trying to influence her, but she still retains some of her memories." She blinked and muddled over Vicki's words. "I'm the one that called you, Tori." Her shoulders slouched and her eyes moved to Crocker.

"Cosmo and Wanda cannot leave town," Crocker stated simply, "So we have established a base outside of town." He pulled up to a small wooden home and motioned everybody out of the car. "It's a good thing we caught you two before Cosmo and Wanda could get their hands on you." Tori looked at Tootie and shrugged before following Crocker and Vicky to the door. "Tell me, what _exactly_ were you doing when you entered the town?"

She crossed her arms and leaned her shoulder against a support pole to her right. "Talking to a friend on the phone. Ran over some flowers in the process, as if that means anything." Crocker unlocked the door and pushed it open. His brow furrowed and he lifted his head a bit.

"The flowers that border town circle the entire perimeter. They are there specifically to keep outsiders from seeing the town as it really is. They also begin working to absorb your memories, which I am sorry to say, is what's been happening to your sister." Tori felt her heart drop and resisted the impulse to scream. She still wasn't sure what she could believe here, and certainly didn't want to believe what was going on.

"Why? Why would they go after her? These…things you say are fairies." She followed them inside and skeptically watched as Crocker set up a projector in what appeared to be a living room set up like an auditorium, with several couches and chairs facing a screen at the front.

"How much do you know about fairies?"

"Only what my friend has told me." She swept her hands out, then brought them down to her sides. "And even then, I don't know how much I believe." The man flipped on the projector and a beam of light shot out to the screen. Tori jumped when she saw a video of Cosmo and Wanda, but much smaller and with wings. Her jaw dropped and she stumbled backwards, stuttering as she watched the video.

It was recent, as Trina was in it with a boy she could only assume was Timmy. That made it all the more real for her, and no matter how much she wanted to deny this, she couldn't.

"You were talking to a friend when you crossed into town." Crocker held his wrists behind his back and turned partially. "That means you were connected to reality, focusing on it. Because you and Tootie, here-" He motioned to Tootie and the girl flinched. "Focusing on the friend, you weren't struck by anything that would promote the dream world that many residents in that town now see. Including your sister."

Tori exhaled and turned her head away, her eyes narrowed and anger began to swirl inside of her. When she said nothing, Crocker continued to explain. "The fairies plan to turn Timmy into one of them." She turned back and sucked her lips inwards. "They've watched him since his birth, planned his life and controlled situations so that he would actually see and need them when he was younger. His parents were not always as they were, they were overprotective of him as a baby, but those fairies made them distant to where he felt alone enough that he could rely on 'fairy godparents'."

"What does this have to do with my sister?"

"Everything." Crocker walked to Tootie and put a hand on her shoulder, drawing Tori's eyes to the girl. Tootie stiffened and looked up to the man, her brow furrowed and her hands started to shake. "Tootie was born in Dimmsdale, she was to be blind to the outside world, easy to be a puppet. Now that she and your sister have traded places, they've had to start over-manually wiping Trina of all things attaching her to the real world, enabling her to forget."

Tori's heart pounded heavily and she leaned forward, sweeping a hand powerfully through the air. "No. They can't have her. She can't forget us, forget me."

"Why did you bother getting us?" Tootie pulled away from Crocker and looked from him to Vicky. "Mr. Crocker?" Vicky frowned and Crocker drew in a deep breath.

"Because we need all the help we can get. We're not the only ones in that town that are disenchanted, so we've been trying to find a way to destroy those two fairies and keep everyone alive." Tori cared only about getting her sister out of this place, so she didn't have a lot of desire to save the city. Tootie, however, had an eagerness in her eyes. "We have the mayor on our side, and a lot of those involved in city hall, Cosmo and Wanda are not aware of this. They feel we are the only two against them…"

"Well good luck finding a way-I'm going to get my sister." Tori turned away and started for the door, stopping only when Vicky blurted out that Trina was at her own home. She turned and met Vicky's eyes, understanding this woman was insistent on taking her to Trina only if she helped. "How are you two unaffected by the magic?"

"We have a lot of iron in our blood." Crocker's arms folded across his chest and his eyebrow rose above his right eye. "We eat a lot of red meat as well, though still have to monitor it. The iron in our blood keeps the fairy magic away as magic cannot touch iron."

"That's also the reason Tootie has never been one hundred percent affected," Vicky stated. Tootie's lips separated and her eyes dropped. "All the nightmares you remember, Tootie? All the bad things that happened, and the dreams you had that this town looked as you do see it now, that stuff was real. For you it was always on and off…"

Tootie cleared her throat and brought her hands together in front of her stomach. "We have a rare disorder, but what about the mayor and other people of the town? The people you say aren't affected, there's no way that they have the same problem our family has or that Mr. Crocker has."

"They don't," Crocker replied in haste, "We've had to feed them iron supplements and inject iron into them. Just the people that would be able to help us be rid of this fairy menace…but there's still a lot that needs to be done, and a lot that we're unsure about. The people in this town don't have long before their bodies start giving way and they perish, because they exist only in a dream state, the real shape their bodies are in will end up killing them."

"It helps to be attached to something outside of the city." Vicky put a hand to her chest and closed her eyes. "Along with the iron supplements, I also travel to the nearby town on occasion and help babysit. So I'm constantly exposed to the reality as opposed to the dream state. The base where we all meet, this house, is owned by Mr. Crocker…so he stays here."

"Sometimes I do. I do live in town to ensure my mother is taken care of."

Tori sniffed the air when she caught a whiff of food cooking nearby. Her eyes darted to the kitchen and squinted on a clearly visible countertop with a stove. She pointed over and everyone followed her gesture.

"Okay we saw some old food at a vendor that people _ate_." She shuddered at the memory and looked back to Crocker and Vicky. "What are you cooking?"

"More of their magic," Crocker sneered at the door and sighed, "All food in that town is laced with magic. If you bite into it, it holds a similar effect as the flowers, you will begin to see the dream state of the town. You will become enchanted." Tori's stomach dropped and she followed Crocker into the kitchen.

"I take it you, Vicky, and anybody else eats stuff that comes from outside?"

"Yes." Crocker removed the pot from the stove and Tori peered in. It was stew that had been simmering. "I own a few farms nearby, and I also have some contacts from other towns-including London-that are with copious supplies of meat, dairy, vegetables, and even baked goods."

"We're prepping them all." Vicky entered the room and leaned back against the wall. Her arms crossed and her eyes fell onto Tootie. The girl still wasn't acknowledging her older sister, but Tori figured she was more concerned with what was happening around town than anything else. "Whenever Cosmo and Wanda break from this town, the people will begin to crash. They'll be aware of their reality, but their bodies are no longer being sustained by the magic, and they will start to die if not fed and taken care of."

Tootie studied her sister for some time, then spoke up. "Why are you caring now, when you weren't before?" Vicky raised an eyebrow and Crocker looked over but remained silent. Tori watched the two, mentally taking notes just in case she needed to understand her own situation. "You're the last person I'd think was trying to salvage this city, much less your own sister."

"Believe it or not, I've always cared." Vicky lowered her arms and her frown deepened. "I might not have shown it the right way, but you're my sister and I've always cared about you. I care about this town, too, albeit not as much as I care about mom and dad-who also are stuck in a spell."

Tootie stepped forward, raising her voice at the girl. "You were the one who pushed me out of the town in the first place. I would never have met Trina if it hadn't been for you forcing me to leave." Vicky rolled her eyes.

"I was trying to protect you. I've always known something was wrong about this city, so of course I pushed you away."

"And what about the other kids in this city? All the ones you babysit, that you torture?"

Vicky's voice began to rise and her hands balled up as her skin turned a light shade of red. "I do it because it's the only way to keep them from thinking this town is really perfect. You think I don't know that people would start suing me? Kids run around town, thinking this town is a good city, but if they see that it's not, they won't be as difficult as an adult is to free from the magic that holds them at bay."

Crocker's eyes closed and he turned off the burner on the stove. "It's essentially the reason I act the way I do with my students." Tori sat at the kitchen table and brought her hand up to her forehead, shielding her eyes and shaking her head.

"I want to help set this town free." Tootie sat at the table as well and Tori lowered her hand, glaring at the girl as though she just enabled their staying here much longer than planned. "But know this, Vicky. I'm not staying. I have enough bad memories of this town as it is, so freeing this town is something I'll help with, but I'm gone after that."

"I was already planning on moving the family out of this place. Mr. Crocker's the one that plans to stay for a time when we get rid of Cosmo and Wanda. He'll help rebuild." Vicky moved over to Tootie and knelt down, she put her hands on her sister's forearms and looked up into Tootie's angry, tear-filled eyes. "You'll always be my sister, Tootie. I've always cared about you, and I want you to be a part of my life. Even mom and dad are starting to come around, just…give them a chance? I don't care if you hate me, but-"

"I need time." Vicky's hands fell and Tootie pulled away from her. The girl looked over to Crocker and crossed her arms. "Tori's friend said fairies don't take a long time, but they've been in this town for a very long time…so what's going on there?"

Vicky stood up slowly and looked away from her sister. Tori's heart broke upon seeing the hurt in the elder woman's eyes, and she started to fear a similar situation with Trina.

"Cosmo and Wanda focused on him first." Vicky's voice trembled and she cleared her throat to correct the quivering vocals. "He wasn't as enchanted by their magic, so he was able to know they were simply masking what was real…everything they did to make him happy was being drained from the life energy of the people in town. So he escaped them, ended up forcing them to have to reject him."

Crocker nodded and brought his hand to his chin. His eyes squinted and he picked up where Vicky left off. "When this happened, they couldn't leave the city without a claim. They waited, holding the town as it was for years until Timmy was born, and he was born with enough energy that could be used, so he was the next one to latch onto."

The man opened the refrigerator and grabbed a gallon of milk. "You see, when they latched onto him, they changed the behavior patterns of his once overprotective and involved parents. So as he grew, he began to feel lonely, and when they appeared, he needed and relied on them."

"This would all be done a long time ago if he hadn't made that damn wish of his," Vicky muttered. Tori raised an eyebrow and tapped her nails impatiently on the table. "He made a wish that forced them to prolong things, I suppose that's good for us…because initially it saved the town. Once they turn him into one of them, the entire town will die."

"As Jade said," Tori muttered, "And they need my sister to give off the final touches?"

"Yeah…"

Tori stood up and narrowed her eyes. "Will you take me to her?" She was as real as it could get, so if reality was needed to disenchant someone, she would have to do her best to get Trina to realize what she's leaving behind. "I do want to know one other thing before we leave."

"What's that?"

"If fairies exist, why are they so rare? What's keeping them from doing this to multiple towns?"

"They've done it to other towns," Crocker replied. Her eyes darted over and her brow furrowed. She pulled her purse strap higher on her shoulder and tensed her muscles. "Every town is protected by what Cosmo and Wanda call an 'anti-fairy'. It is as says, anti-magic, and they've existed just as long as fairies have. There's one assigned to each and every city in the world to protect the town, remaining behind the scenes and not affecting the flow of the land."

"So what happened to the one that was apparently protecting this town?"

"There was a disruption somewhere along the way. Anti-Fairies will call for backup if a fairy stumbles into town and becomes too much. Typically the Anti will destroy the fairy on sight, but the fairy can overpower them to a point they call back up from their realm…the one that protected Dimmsdale did not receive his backup. Cosmo and Wanda overwhelmed and destroyed that Anti."

If the backup hadn't come, then something was wrong in the realm that the Anti-fairies came from. This meant fairies could easily overpower other Anti's. "Cosmo and Wanda first have to be a success," Vicky interjected. Tori flinched and shook her head. This was all too much for her, and yet, she was beginning to understand. "They come from a place they call 'fairy world', which I believe was once the Anti's world…some war must have happened some time ago, and somehow the Anti's lost."

"The only way they could have lost to the fairies is if they were betrayed," Crocker added, "Or if a fairy slipped past their defenses. If we could figure it out and free them, it would be a great help, but all these years and I still haven't figured out a way into that world…"

* * *

Hmm, what are your thoughts? We know at least one person, who may be the only human to be allowed into this realm. Do you think it's possible to get Timmy on their side? Could the anti-faries be captive, and if freed, could they help?


	14. Sister's Determination

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 14 (A Sister's Determination)

She walked up to the house with Vicky, while Tootie remained in the car for lack of disguise. She didn't want to walk up to her parents' home while Trina was there. "I said I was going to leave it in Trina's hands if she wanted to forget us…" She looked at the overgrown yard that surrounded her. Her voice trembled as a nervous shake riddled her body. "But it sounds like she won't really be able to make that decision anyway."

"Cosmo and Wanda want Timmy to fall for her, but only after she's completely forgotten her outside life." Vicky set her hand on the doorknob and looked over to Trina. "Once she knows only Dimmsdale life, and she makes an ultimate bond with Timmy it will mean the peak of happiness." Tori's eyes widened and she moved a trembling hand over her mouth, whimpering into it. She already knew this from what Jade said, but hearing it only made itreal to her.

"She'll die and he'll be turned into one of them. I got that." She knew what Vicky must have gone through, having known that Tootie was originally the target. It was a strange way of sacrifice, unknowingly giving one's own life so another would become a mystical creature. _"I wonder if Timmy is aware of all this."_'

"Be forewarned, the memories she can still remember clearly are the negative ones." Tori froze on the spot and dropped her jaw. As Vicky began to turn the knob, she searched for a bush she could hide behind. Sweat poured down her trembling body and she began to shake her head, causing Vicky to stop and stare at her with concern. "What's the problem?"

"If all she remembers is negative, how in the hell am I supposed to get through to her?"

"Find a way to remind her of the good things. Her memories weren't deleted, they're hidden by the spell. They're still there, you just have to awaken them."

"Yeah." Tori crossed her arms and pushed her hands under her armpits in an attempt to hide the trembling. "Before or after I remind her of all the reasons she wants nothing to do with me?"

"Just don't give up, and try actually doing things with her. Be a part of her life." Tori frowned as Vicky removed her hand from the knob and turned to her. "You don't have to rely on what the good times were, you can make new memories. You can show her that you do care about her."

She took a deep breath and looked at the door for what felt like an eternity. Vicky was right, she could do this. Even if she didn't try and manually bring up every good memory they had, she could create new ones.

"Just remember, Tori, every memory she ever had is still in there." Tori nodded and dropped her eyes to the ground. "There is a reason Cosmo and Wanda don't want you here, Tori. You're a reminder to the outside world, a connection-it's just like when you were talking to your friend on the phone when you entered into the town…If you spend time with Trina, show her the good times, she'll remember good times. The same is said if you're negative…"

"So you're saying eventually she'd remember everything?"

"Yeah, you just have to show her that those memories are good. Don't tell her you want to take her away from this town, because she probably has no desire to leave, but do tell her you want to be a part of her life and that you want to make an effort. Give her a reason to spend time with you."

"What do I do about the fact that everything in this town looks, um…" She turned her head over her shoulder and frowned at the weeds growing over the roads. "Dead." Her chest expanded and she reached to the support post on the porch and stabilized herself by clinging to the edge. "Everything in this town looks dead."

"You learn to get used to it. I see what you're seeing, Mr. Crocker sees it, the people down at city hall see it, but the only thing that we can do is pretend we see what everybody else is seeing. It's really not all that hard, just remember not to buy anything that vendors are selling."

"Okay, and what of restaurants? What if Trina and I go to the town's diner or something?"

"Not everything is affected by the magic. Keep only on red meats, or foods with high iron content. So if you go to the town's diner, might I recommend the sirloin?" Tori flashed a toothy grin and turned towards the door. She began grooming her hair, then waited for Vicky to open the door.

Trina was inside and lounging on the couch. Her hands were folded on her stomach, which was rising and falling slowly. Her eyes were shut, and her soft brown hair had fallen over her beautiful face. Tori's heart skipped and she started to relax while tentatively approaching her sister.

"She's asleep," Tori whispered, "I don't know if I want to disturb her." Trina's eyes fluttered and her right hand rolled off onto the couch beside her body. Tori approached the couch and knelt beside her sibling. She reached over and carefully pulled Trina's hair from her face.

Trina's face had a glow, and a rosy tint to her cheeks. Her lips were a mere centimeter apart and her nostrils were opening and closing with each slow, sleepy breath the girl made. "Hard to believe she hasn't changed at all. She looks the same as she did the last time I saw her." She was curious what Trina could be thinking about, and if she'd dreamt about her family at all anymore.

"When I was a girl, she'd be the one to protect me from all the monsters. She and Dad. Now, I have to be the one to protect her from something I don't even understand." Tears welled up in her eyes as she ran her forefinger and thumb along a single strand of Trina's hair. "I wish she knew how much I loved her, how much I care about her. Even with everything my friends have done, and how selfish I became when I met them-when I went to that school…it's never changed how I felt for my sister. No matter how much it seemed like it."

"You never truly stop loving your sister," Vicky whispered, "No matter what happens. It's the one thing that's always there."

"Then how dare those fairies think they can take her away from me. To hurt her like this, she doesn't even know what's going to happen to her. I can't let that happen…"

"Then be here for her. Right now there isn't much to do."

"I know." She moved a hand over Trina's right hand, then leaned up, giving her sister a soft kiss on the forehead. Trina's eyelids slid up partially and a soft groan escaped her lips. The girl looked up to Tori and her lips pursed while her hand tightened.

"Tori?" Trina stretched her legs out and mumbled under her breath. "Where'd Wanda go, she was helping me to go under." Tori raised an eyebrow and looked up to Vicky. The woman's lip twitched and her hand moved up over her mouth.

"I might have failed to mention that Wanda has been putting Trina in these deep sleeps in order to 'cleanse' her memory. Evidently, you just woke her up from one of those things." Tori exhaled and bowed her head. For a moment, she was grateful Tootie wasn't here to make a 'prince charming' joke. "Honestly I haven't seen anyone but Wanda wake her from that, and I've been watching."

"Whatever." Tori flung her hair over her shoulder and listened to Trina carry on about something she'd been dreaming about. It wasn't long before Trina asked if Tori's presence was part of the dream. "That honestly depends, Trina. I think I'm actually here, but you could be seeing something far different than what I'm seeing…"

"So. This isn't a dream?" Trina sat upright and the peacefulness on her face began to fade away. "You're actually here?" Trina tore away from her and threw her hand up to her face. "What the hell are you doing here? How are you here, and why are you here? Where's Wanda." Tori's heart stopped and Trina started to call out to Wanda and Cosmo.

"No, Trina!" She flew over and cupped her hand over her sister's mouth. "Whatever you do, don't call those two here!" Trina's wide and fearful eyes struck a painful chord in Tori's heart. She wanted to run crying from the house, but resisted the urge. "Please Trina, I'm here for you. All I want to do is talk…"

Once Trina's body relaxed and her shoulders fell, Tori pulled her hand away and sat down on the couch. "What makes you think I want to talk to you, Tori?" Trina crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "How'd you find out where I was, or even that I wasn't home?"

"I imagine the same way I found out," Vicky muttered while walking across the room. "Tootie's here too, but she's outside. Tori made her come."

"You don't expect me to leave with you, Tori? There's nothing for me in Los Angeles." Tori frowned and reached for Trina's hand, but her sister pulled away. She pushed away the rejection and returned her hand to her lap.

"You have family there, Trina. We love you, all of us." Trina laughed in response, crushing Tori with the spiteful reaction. "Please, just give me a chance to show you that I care about you."

"You? You care about me?" Trina brought her hand to her chest and scoffed. "You have funny ways of showing it. Like letting your friends abuse me, and doing nothing about it."

"Things are different. Let me show you." Tori reached over once more with confidence and took Trina's hand in hers. She looked into her sister's eyes with all the strength she could muster. "I'm not going to give up on you. I'm not going to give up that easily."

"You think you can just waltz back into my life and expect me to believe you when you say you give a shit about me?" Trina pulled away and stood up, then turned her back to her. "I have a life here. I have friends here, and a guy."

"A guy?" Tori's eyebrows closed together and her fingers curled around her knees. "Please, you had a guy in Los Angeles. Sinjin. He truly loved you. I don't know about this Timmy guy, but from the things Tootie and her sister tell me, I don't know just how much he cares about you."

"Oh of course the first thing you do is criticize the man I'm with." Trina spun around, her fierce glare caused Tori to tense. The skin around Trina's eyes creased and her lips stretched into a long frown. "You don't know Timmy one bit, so don't you dare criticize him!"

"How can I approve of a man that would willingly allow you to disown your entire family?" She stood up and flung her hand to the door. "How can I approve of a man dating my sister that I haven't even met. Hell, I liked Sinjin, he seemed nice enough. He still comes around from time to time."

"As if I need a man to make me happy." Tori saw Vicky's eyebrow rise, and she resisted the urge to comment on Trina's clear blindness to the fact that she was doing just that with Timmy. "Why shouldn't I disown my family, Tori? All you people ever did was treat me like trash."

"That isn't true, Trina. You know that's not true."

Trina's eyebrows rose and she leaned back, gasping in surprise. "Oh it isn't?" Trina laughed again and leaned forward, pointing a finger like a dagger to Tori's heart. "Dad let three men manhandle me while I was alone with them, and he ended up believing them. Mom's become too busy with her affair to pay enough attention or show gratitude when I help her with morning chores-or even do them all for her-because she can't wake up in the morning. Don't even get me started on you, Tori."

"Things are changing." Tori stepped forward and put her hands to her chest. "I swear-I promise you things aren't like that anymore." She was desperate, but she could see clearly just how much Wanda had messed with Trina's mind. Even if much of the things said were true, the Trina she knew would still give her a second chance. "It hasn't always been like that."

"I don't remember a time that it wasn't."

"Seriously?"

"Of course not, all I can remember is being the one to be walked over."

"Oh come on, Trina." She raised her voice and threw her hands into the air. "You were dad's favorite. He always watched you, always cared about you. You and I, we were inseparable once. We played in the yard, even got dirty in the mud when mom told us not to." Trina closed her mouth and Tori saw a glimpse of hesitation in her eyes. She hoped this was a good sign, rather than just a struggle to remember something that Wanda may have already locked away somewhere.

Tori put one hand to her waist and smirked. "Or did you forget who it was that helped stall mom and dad while you and Sinjin were hurrying to clean yourselves up after sex?" Trina's mouth formed a circle and Vicky's jaw dropped. "I know all your secrets, because we were best friends. You're still my best friend, whether you realize it or not…"

"Come on Tori, do you expect me to believe-"

"Please." She stepped forward and took Trina's hands in hers. Her tears ran down the sides of her face as her body began to tremble. "Trina, you've always been my sister, and we've always shared everything. I won't let my friends hurt you anymore. Mom's no longer cheating on Dad, and they're working on their marriage. Dad is trying to focus on his family more than his job…but more importantly, I want my sister. I want you to give me a chance."

"Words." Trina shook her head slowly and furrowed her brow. "They're all words that are coming out of your mouth." A whimper fell from Tori's lips and her knees started to buckle.

"This isn't you, Trina. It's that woman. That woman has you under a spell."

"Oh please." Trina walked to the front door and opened it. She put her free hand to her waist and narrowed her eyes. "You can leave now, Tori." Tori wiped her cheeks and closed her eyes.

"Fine, but I'm not giving up on you. I won't give up on us."'

"There _is_ no us."

"Yes there is." Tori walked to the door and looked Trina straight in the eyes with a hard determination. "I'll get you to see that." She brought her right hand over her heart and breathed in sharply. "I'm real, Trina, and I'm here. This fantasy, this world, this dream that you're under…that's all it is. Fake."

"No more fake than your friends and your so called 'love'."

Tori's heart broke once more and her eyebrows flattened over her eyes. She thinned her lips together as the corners of her mouth embedded in her cheeks. "No." Her voice grew soft and she closed her eyes. "I love you, sis, and that's real. I mean it when I say it, and I mean it when I say I refuse to give up on you." If she found this Timmy, she'd throttle him, as she figured he had a hand in this spell Trina was under. She was skeptical of his involvement with the fairies. "I'm not going anywhere, Trina."

"Goodbye, Tori."

"See you later."

She stepped out onto the porch and let out an sharp exhale. "Good luck." She turned just as the door slammed shut. Her body flinched, then sank. The air from the slamming door seemed to push her back, and the storm of emotions she felt threatened to force her to the ground.

She deserved it, she knew that much. "So how am I going to prove it to you? I'll find a way…"

* * *

Well that was tense, but the good thing is, Trina's still reachable. So long as she's got _some _memories left, she's reachable.


	15. Meeting the Boyfriend

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 15 (Meeting the Boyfriend)

"So I take it that went badly?" Tori slammed the driver door shut and shot a side glare at Tootie. Tootie flinched and Tori pressed down on the gas pedal. "Well, where are we headed now?"

"I need to drive around a bit." She clenched her teeth and shot down the road, growling angrily while glaring at the street. In the distance there was a radio tower that rose into the sky. She tilted her head to the right and looked down at her car radio. "I'm curious. What music do you think this town listens to?"

Tootie perched her elbow on the top of the open window and buried her fingers into her hair. "I don't know." The girl sighed and shook her head. "I tried to listen to music in the car, but only one radio station had anything playing-everything else was static. As for what was playing, it was weird kind of music. Stuff I think I'd listen to if I was trying to relax or go to sleep."

"Sleep?" She raised an eyebrow and clutched the steering wheel tightly. "Mystical kind of music, I guess?" Tootie nodded and struck the power button on the radio. Tori scrunched her face as a melody surrounded her. It was haunting, but listening seemed to draw a heaviness to her eyes. Thinking fast, she hit the button and shut it off. "Okay, first rule-we do not listen to the shit music that station's playing."

"Agreed. It was freaking me out." Tori grabbed a CD from the cubby space between the seats and popped it in. She preferred listening to her music that way. When soft rock music filled the air, she relaxed with a sigh and gave Tootie a smile. The girl chuckled and leaned back in her chair. "That's better. Much better."

"Damn right." She glanced out the window and furrowed her brow at the people walking down the street. It was a couple, walking arm and arm, both looked ready to snap in two. "I swear to god, if I find those fairies, I'm going to kill them." Tootie brought her hands to her legs and followed the people with her eyes.

"With what, exactly? It's not like we have anything that would really harm them." Tori glanced at the rearview mirror and shrugged.

"There is a sword made from pure silver in the trunk. It was something that was given to Dad as a gift for his time on the force. He put it in the trunk to transport it somewhere, and we just haven't taken it out yet. It may be decoration, but that damn thing would be a great weapon against those two pieces of flying shit."

Tootie's eyes enlarged and she laughed once. "Good point. Now we just have to try not to get killed by those things. Do you think they'd kill us?"

"I don't know." Wanda and Cosmo certainly wouldn't be happy with them running around town, but she couldn't figure how far they'd go to prevent them from interfering with their plans. "Mr. Crocker and Vicky are still alive, aren't they?"

"True. They might not be able to kill someone directly. Although, what's stopping them from putting us all in a situation that could get us killed?"

"Nothing is, Tootie." The main issue was how to travel the town without running into the fairies, primarily when they needed to talk to the person that the fairies might constantly be around. "We need to be careful. Apparently Trina woke up expecting Wanda."

"Ouch."

"So Wanda might have been nearby, yet your parents weren't." The only thing Tori was certain about was that Trina was not lost yet. The fact that she recognized Tori, and she still had the negative memories on her mind meant she hadn't been completely rehabilitated yet. "Cosmo and Wanda still haven't got her to where they want her, so that's a good thing."

"Oh?"

"It means my sister is still in there."

After an hour of driving around town and getting a feel of a city that looked to be reduced to rubble, they finally settled down at a hotel. To protect their room from any wandering fairy, they put up any supernatural protection that they could, including salt at and on the door.

They continued their drive after settling down at the motel for another hour. When they set of, Tori was surprised to find Trina and Timmy at a park table near a parking lot. Eager to finally sink her claws into this man, Tori parked and left Tootie scrambling to get out of the car.

"Timmy Turner!" Timmy and Trina turned towards her and Trina's eyes widened as Tori stormed towards them. "Get the hell away from my sister." Timmy's jaw dropped, but before he could act, Tori was already upon him.

She grabbed his shirt collar and was pushing him back, glaring into his eyes. "I want to know what you've done to my sister, and I want to know now."

"Tori, stop!" Trina called out. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I don't know this man, but I know he hangs around those god awful fairies."

"Fairies?" Timmy chuckled nervously and looked to the side. "What fairies?" Tori shoved him back and her nostrils flared as he scrambled backwards.

"Don't play coy with me. I know everything, and I don't trust you." Adrenaline coursed through her veins, and Timmy seemed to shrink beneath her. She ignored Tootie and Trina both calling out to her, mainly due to focusing all of her anger and energy on this man. "Those two fairies. You're with them, so you must be up to something."

The fact that Timmy also looked healthier than any of the residents in town only furthered her suspicion. "Tori!" Just as she was about to strike the man, a strong force yanked her away. She closed her fingers and let out an agonized and frustrated shout.

"I wasn't going to hurt him. Honest!"

She faced her sister and frowned. Trina was huffing and her eyes were narrowed. "If this is some cockamamie attempt to win favor with me, it isn't working." She bowed her head as Trina approached her. "Don't assault my boyfriend." Timmy ran his hands along his neck and smiled, but when Tori didn't react to him, the smile faded.

"So this is your sister, huh? Funny. I pictured someone different." Tori felt another rush of anger and sneered at him. Her fists clenched as she turned her head.

"And exactly _what_ were you expecting?"

He scratched the back of his head and chuckled nervously. Tori scanned him with her eyes, studying every inch of his body. He was thin, wore a pink hoodie and blue jeans that covered what could have been biker legs. His brown hair was covered by a nauseating pepto-bismol colored hat.

Her lips tucked down and her nostrils expanded as she flicked her eyes back into his. "Um." Timmy pulled his hand away and flashed a toothy smile. Even Sinjin presented himself with more confidence. All she could think about was how low Trina's standards had fallen. "Well, I kind of pictured you a little snootier and more concerned about yourself-with the way Trina talks about you."

"She's my sister. I love her in a way that you never will…" She turned towards him and narrowed her eyes. "And I don't like that I do not know who the hell you are." Trina could do so much better, but that wasn't the issue at the moment. "But it is _nice_ to meet you…"

"Likewise. Now, you were saying about fairies?"

Tootie approached them and spoke up unexpectedly. "Cosmo and Wanda." Timmy glanced at her and his eyes widened. Tori read the surprise, but also recognition, so she was at least not concerned with his expecting Trina to have replaced the girl. "Purple and green hair, preferred method of travel is flight…Yeah, you know, fairies."

"Talking about them means I might run the chance of losing them."

"You won't." Tori crossed her arms and leaned to the right, while pushing her hip out to the left. "These fairies want something from you, the only reason they don't want humans knowing about them is because they can't operate in secret." Either he had no knowledge of what the fairies were doing, or he was just dense. "I'm going to put it right out there for you, I don't trust you."

"I understand you don't know me, so I wouldn't expect you not to trust me. I can assure you, I wouldn't do anything to hurt Trina."

"Good." Tori circled him and stopped behind him, studying his skinny backside. The skin around her nose wrinkled and she shook her head. _"How on earth does Trina end up dating an unattractive smuck that relies on fairies to make him happy? Fairies that have plans of their own…"_ At least Sinjin worked out. It wasn't much, but he had some muscle mass. His friend, however, was even hotter. "How much has my sister told you about her life, Timmy?"

"I've told him enough," Trina answered, "What I could remember anyway." Trina rolled her head to the right and uncrossed her arms. "Why?"

"I just want to make sure Timmy's not worrying about anything. He clearly wasn't expecting Tootie or myself to come strolling into town." She furrowed her brow and continued to burn her glare into Timmy. The man's shoulders dropped and he turned his head slightly over his right shoulder. "I mean the men you've been with have been attractive, loyal…what would happen if they could find their way here, would Timmy feel threatened by them?"

"I have only been with Sinjin." Trina raised an eyebrow and Tori stopped moving. She stared at her sister's face and parted her lips, only to let out a shocked breath.

"Jason," Tootie remarked abruptly, "What the hell about him?" Trina's forehead creased and Tori glanced to the girl. "Hot guy, personal trainer in our martial arts class at camp, apparent nephew to one of your former teachers-don't tell me you forgot? You were with him at camp all the time, and this was before Sinjin!"

Trina's hand moved up to her neck and her fingers curled in the crevice as her head bowed. "I…" She scanned the ground with her eyes, as though trying to recall the memories. "I can barely remember being with Sinjin, much less anyone else that treated me right." Trina cleared her throat and looked up, her hands balled up and her arms stiffened. "What does it matter?"

"Well he did come looking for you some time ago." Tootie's foot tapped on the ground and she shook her head. "Even befriended Sinjin. I think the two of them hang out regularly these days."

"I see…but again, what does it matter? I'm with Timmy now, and I love him." Tori understood this and wanted to respect that, but the main thing she was trying to do was get Trina to remember these outside memories. The reality was far better than the dream, and from what she saw, Timmy was the dream that would kill her if the fairies had their way.

It made her wonder how much Trina did remember, and if she only remembered Tori when she saw her. What Vicky said played in her head like a recording, any person, place or thing could cause a flashback. She wouldn't go so far as to bring somebody like Sinjin to Dimmsdale unless it was necessary, but for all she knew, it could mean the difference between getting Trina to remember versus Trina forgetting everything.

"Tori. I want you to understand that I do not want to talk to you, I don't want you talking to my boyfriend…" Tori cringed as Trina's hands slid down to her waist. "I want you to leave." She frowned as her sister turned to Tootie and clicked her tongue. "Tootie, I'm sorry Tori made you come back here. I know you hated this town."

"This is still your sister," Timmy reminded. Tori did a double take and stared at him with large eyes. Her heartbeat slowed and she watched him motion his arm towards her. "I understand why you don't want anything to do with her, but she came all this way to see you."

"She's never made time for me." Trina scowled at him and averted her eyes from Tori. "I've needed her many times, like I've needed mom and dad many times, so why should I give her the time of day when she decides she's going to bother with me for once in her life?" Trina slid her right hand through the air, hovering it in Tori's direction. "The minute I cave and give her any attention, she's just going to go right back to being an ignorant, self-centered bitch that wants nothing to do with me because her friends are far more important than me."

Spurned by her sister's words, but feeling the guilt that came from the truth behind them, she lashed out without knowing any way to get through to Trina. "What the hell do you want me to do." Trina crossed her arms as Tootie and Timmy both flinched. "Do you want me to call my friends right now and tell them it's through? That I no longer want them in my life?"

"No, that isn't it at all. You deserve to have friends, you just shouldn't let them be more important than family."

"I was planning on possibly doing that anyway, Trina." She turned her back to her sister and started to walk off. Her eyes closed and her voice started to rise. "Do you know how easy it would be for me to just cut them off? Because trust me, they deserve it."

"That's not what I want, that's never what I wanted."

"Well what did you want?"

"I wanted my fucking sister!" Tori froze in place as Trina's voice echoed through the air. Tears brimmed at her eyelids and a shaky sob escaped her trembling lips. "But the reason I left was because I knew my sister was gone. You had about as much love left for me as mom and dad did. Now you're here all of a sudden? What do you expect me to think about that, Tori? Huh? Do you expect me to just roll over and forgive you like nothing ever happened? Because it doesn't work like that!"

Further enraged, Tori spun around and spread her arms out, laughing aloud. "That's funny, cause apparently everyone in this town lives in a dream world of sugar plums and peaches, where nothing ever goes wrong and everything's perfect all the time. _Surely_ I would have thought you'd forgive me." She scoffed and returned to her car. Tootie hesitated, then followed when she called for her.

"Is it true?" Tootie closed the door behind her and pulled the seatbelt on. "You didn't think she'd forgive you right away?"

Tori rolled her eyes and snapped her seatbelt together. "I was being sarcastic." She gazed through the windshield at her sister and frowned. "This is seriously going to be harder than I thought, but I still didn't think it would be easy."

"You just need some time to cool down. Let's go back to the motel and get some rest." Resting wasn't going to do much for her stress levels, but maybe she could at least try and calm down. "We can figure out a strategy, Tori. We'll find a way."

"Yeah sure." Tori curled her fingers over the top of the steering wheel and dropped her shoulders. "Notice how she's not angry at you, just me." Granted it was she who betrayed Trina. Cosmo and Wanda seemed to have done a damn good job blacking out all the positive memories that the two sisters had. "I can only hope they don't put her under again and start wiping the rest of her memory."

"We're an active threat now, like Vicky and Mr. Crocker said. We have to expect they're going to do something."

* * *

So my readers, are you along the lines of Tori and not trusting Timmy? Does it seem like he knows what's going on with the town, or is he innocent? Tori may be frustrated, but it might be important for her to practice a little patience


	16. Spirited Away

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 16 (Spirited Away)

"Hold on, you found her?" Sinjin's voice was full of shock and intrigue. Tori was uncertain just how much information she wanted to share with him, but she thought it wouldn't be fair to not let him know that his former girlfriend had been located. In a twist, rather than a love triangle between him, Timmy, and Trina, it appeared now to be her with Timmy. "And you don't trust the guy she's with?"

"Why is that?" Another masculine voice chimed in, causing Tori to sit up on the motel bed. She leaned back against the wall and saw Tootie on the other bed. Tootie was listening in now, but also staring down at her own cell phone. She looked up when the second man spoke, a clear sign of recognition.

"I'm not sure, Jason." Tori slipped her left hand behind her head and closed her eyes. "He seems like a nice guy, but to put it simply…There are some people in this town that are bad, and Timmy is mixed up with these people." She didn't like calling Cosmo and Wanda 'people', but these two men were unlikely to believe her if she said anything about fairies. "What are you two doing, by the way?"

"I am trying to get Sinjin to run a mile in ten minutes." Trina raised an eyebrow, then laughed. Jason could be a drill sergeant if he wanted, but he was a personal trainer and fitness instructor for the local college. Sinjin worked at the same college as a history professor. She had yet to ask what Timmy's job was, but she was almost certain he didn't have a decent career. "Is Trina in any danger with this guy?"

"He hasn't hurt her that I know of, but she hasn't exactly been willing to talk to me."

"Does this guy seem overbearing, controlling or manipulative?"

She looked up to the right and tilted her head, humming thoughtfully as she searched for an answer to the question. "No…" It was more Wanda that seemed that way, and to tell the truth, Timmy wasn't manipulating Trina as far as she could tell. "I spoke briefly with him and he didn't give off a controlling vibe. Again, it's just the people he's mixed up with that are making him look bad." She heard a laugh and straightened her posture.

"Sounds a little like something you would know about, eh Tori?" Sinjin chuckled again and Tori pressed her lips tight. She crossed her right leg over her left and peaked her shoulders up while breathing in through her nose. She heard a smack, then Sinjin yelped. A smirk formed out of her lips and she huffed at him.

"I've been meaning to have a chat with my friends, so don't think they're capable of manipulating or controlling me."

"Just don't forget, this is Trina we're talking about. You and your parents pushed her away, and your friends didn't exactly help."

"I know, I know." She hung her elbow over the top of the headboard and cracked her neck. A sigh drifted from her lips and her eyes traveled over to Tootie, who was watching her with intrigue.

"Hey Tori, I've got a question." She snapped her eyes back to the wall in front of her and moved her arm down to drape over her abdomen.

"Yes, Jason?"

"What did you say that guy's name was again?"

"Timothy Turner. Why?"

"It's strange. Mom always talks about this girl that Uncle Sikowitz dated a long time ago, he got her pregnant and everything, and was going to propose to her, but found out she was already married to some guy." Tori imagined Sikowitz in the situation and frowned as she recalled the strange sadness that had often been in the teacher's eyes.

"That must suck."

"Yeah. Apparently he'd been duped into getting this woman pregnant, because when she ended up pregnant, she disappeared with the guy. Their last name was Turner."

"Oh. They just vanished?"

"Yep, even after the couple agreed to let him be a part of the child's life. They moved away and Uncle Sikowitz never heard from them again. He just assumed they were lying to him the whole time."

"You could have a cousin out there and not even know it. You think Timmy-"

"Nah, I'm just talking out of my ass really. Could be a coincidence, I just remember mom talking about them. Darren and Susan Turner." Tori saw the girl in the other bed flinch, which was concerning but overall not something she considered important for the moment.

"I know how you feel though. I guess I never really thought about it, but Dad mentioned something similar when we were growing up."

"Oh?"

"Dad had an older brother that vanished without a trace a long time ago, like back in the early to mid-eighties. No body, no instance of his name or record was ever brought up." It was what sent their grandfather into the years of depression as far as she was aware.

"They never figured anything out?" Sinjin asked.

"Nope. They speculated maybe he ran off with some woman, but there's been no record of the woman he met ever existing." As the story was told by David, from what she could remember, this woman approached his brother one day and he fell madly in love. She was telling him how much potential she had, and was always giving him a bouquet of flowers. Each time she left, she told him not to forget about her.

He kept those flowers for her, and soon he seemed to have been spirited away by this mysterious woman. As a result, her grandfather would keep the zinna and forget-me-not flowers as a hope that one day his son would return home.

"Dad actually became a police officer hoping that maybe he could look into his brother's disappearance. It's difficult to think about, all these people being spirited away like that…"

"Sounds like what's happening with your sister too."

"Yeah, some kind of weird ass magic in the air." She laughed once, then rolled her eyes. The men laughed as well, then fell silent. She waited for some time, thinking about her interaction with Timmy. It was important to find something that might seem wrong about him. "I think I'm going to be watching this guy, by the way. Something has to be off about him. I don't want to lose my sister to someone involved with the wrong people."

"Don't judge a book by it's cover, Tori. You never know, he may be a good person and you're just looking for something bad about him."

"What if he ends up putting her life in danger without meaning to? These people he's involved with, they could hurt her."

"Sounds again like something you might know a thing or two about." Her eyebrows flattened and she pulled her lips back and into a straight line. "Sorry, we're just wondering if maybe you're trying to project your guilt onto someone else, that maybe you're trying to justify what your friends have done to you, your parents, your sister, and put that blame onto-"

"I am not justifying anything!" She snapped her hand into the air and shouted at the top of her lungs. Tootie looked over sadly as Tori leaned forward, panting heavily and narrowing her eyes. "I know now everything that Jade, Beck, Robbie, and Andre have done to my sister and how they've lied to mom and dad. How they've lied to _me. _I know that, okay? Nothing I do or say to them is going to do anything with reestablishing a connection with my family."

"It might," Jason stated, "I think you should at least put them on some kind of suspension or something. Disciplining a friend becomes necessary when they go too far. You've let them go too far many times just because you wanted to please them. You pleased them, but at the expense of pushing Trina away."

Sinjin agreed, smacking his lips and breathing out heavily. "Yeah." Tori looked to the right and slowly shook her head. "You're on the verge of pushing her away because you've never talked to her, never let her know you do care about her, and you never shut your friends up when you should have."

"I know that. Believe me, I've known from the very first time when there was trouble." Her mind traveled back too one of the first times she had Jade over at the house. She'd gone out to pick up an order they placed at a nearby pizza shop, and when she returned, Trina was crying. Jade looked so smug that Tori was certain something was up. She'd even heard some of the conversation before opening the door, Jade clearly was punishing Trina because of what Tori had done with Beck.

She said nothing when Trina rushed up the stairs. Even when asking Jade what was going on, she simply agreed when Jade told her that Trina was just acting crazy and being an attention-whore.

"It does bother me…" She felt a tear running down the left side of her face. Instinctively she swept it away, but held her fingers on her cheek. "Jade's right about one thing, always has been. She's right to question Beck."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Beck should never have agreed to let me hang around. Even if I wanted to make friends. Not if his girlfriend was uncomfortable with letting the girl that not only hit on him, but kissed him out of spite against Jade, sit down at the table…" Sinjin and Jason murmured their agreements and Tori closed her eyes, reeling from the guilt inside. Her hand moved up to her forehead and her body slumped down in the bed. "Thinking about it, every single time Jade and I argued, Beck would shut her up. Every time she felt uncomfortable or didn't want me doing something, he'd control her, when he should be siding with his girlfriend over the girl that got too close."

"Yep, and as a result, she went after your sister. Eventually, Beck and the others did as well. You? You're just a pushover, a doormat for them."

"Well I'm not going to be that way anymore." She was going to do everything in her power to ensure they shut up and they respected her family. If they didn't, then she would be done with them. "But before I can do anything about them, I need to at least get Trina back to wanting me in her life. I'm sincere, I care deeply about her…"

"She needs to know she's more important to you than your friends," Sinjin advised, "She needs to know that you value her. Just because you ended up finding her after realizing Tootie wasn't her, that doesn't tell her much. For all she knows, her father could have put you up to it."

"Yeah. So what do I do?"

"You be patient."

"She'll come around," Jason informed, "Sooner or later she will come around."

"I just need to remind her, that's all. I have to remind her what it's like having a sister who cares about you, who is there for you and has your back. Even…after all these years of being exactly the opposite of that."

"Look Tori, if you need our help, give us the word. We'll come right up to where you're at if you need us to. Granted, Trina might not like it, nor would this Timmy guy, but we cared about her at one point and like it or not…both of us have been close enough to her that we know how she is. We can at least help be in the middle between the two of you."

Tori smiled at the offer and looked up at the ceiling with an uncertain sigh. She could see having their help, and of course she knew how to give them directions to the place as well as making sure they weren't 'enchanted' upon entering the town. Right now, she had somewhat of a handle on things, so she didn't need their help.

"Thanks for the offer. If I need to, I'll let you guys know. Right now, though, I'm just going to try on my own." She looked to the bedposts at the foot of her bed and moved her left hand down beside her body. "Now, I think I have a call to make. I want to talk to my friends."

"Okay."

"You guys brought up a good point. I want to set things straight with Beck. Even though he doesn't act so much like that anymore, I know the reason I'm friends with all of them is because of him and how he forced Jade to let me be involved with them…"

"Honestly, who does that? What guy that is truly interested in their girlfriend's concerns will let another girl that hit on him-even kissed him in spite-come around him and his friends when his girlfriend is clearly uncomfortable with it?"

"Yeah…" Yet that only involved her, but it was because of that which Jade went after Trina so harshly at first. Now he'd done things like restraining Trina and lying to David, or even laughing when she gets hurt. Hell, even Robbie seemed suspicious. "I'll give you two a call if I need you for anything."

"Alright. See you."

"Bye." She clicked off the phone and banged her head against the headboard. Her eyes shut tight and her right hand fell onto the bed. "What the hell am I going to do with all of them?"

"Give them a second chance with a probationary period," Tootie suggested. Tori opened her eyes partially and turned her head slightly. Tootie was now underneath the covers of her bed and was gazing up at her. The girl shrugged and closed her eyes. "Some might be more severe than others, but give them a chance to prove whether or not they care enough to respect you and your family."

"For once…" She slipped beneath her covers and smirked at Tootie. "You have a good idea." Tootie laughed and Tori reached up to turn off the lights. "So earlier, you flinched at the names Jason mentioned. Why?"

"Because. Timmy's mom and dad are Susan and Darren Turner." Tori's eyes shot open and enlarged. Her heart froze as she studied the lump in the bed next to her. "There are a lot of people here that Wanda and Cosmo call 'outsiders' apparently, and a good majority of them might have been drawn to this town by the two themselves."

"Spirited away?"

"Yeah, like your dad's brother. I wonder if he might have anything to do with Dimmsdale…You told me about your grandfather's issue with flowers, the same flowers that are all over this city…"

"I think that's a coincidence, Tootie. Besides, I've got more important things to worry about."

"Right, bigger fish to fry."

* * *

A lot of curious missing person's cases. Half of Dimmsdale is full of outsiders. It looks like David's brother was purposely reached out to-I wonder if there's any significance to that. Hopefully Tori can manage this without having to call on the guys for any further help.


	17. Fallen Guardians of the World

Enchanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 17 (Fallen Guardians of the World)

Trina followed Timmy through the strange place that Wanda and Cosmo had taken them. The home of all the fairies. It wasn't his first visit, but she'd only briefly had any association with this land. "I don't know how I feel about this place." Her stomach was tight and her head felt like someone was using it as a punching bag. "I've got a headache, I feel sick, and to top it off…this place freaks me out."

"Why?" Timmy laughed and leaned into her, putting his arm around her waist and kissing her left temple. "It's a great place. Did you know that I'm the first human they've allowed here?" Her forehead wrinkled and she looked at him strangely. "Their leader, Jorgen, is wary about humans being here."

"I can't imagine why." She glanced at the clouds they were stepping on, and with each step she pictured herself tumbling through them and falling back to earth. The sky above them was filled with multicolored fairies soaring the skies, each casting various spells upon each other. "So why did they let you here?" She flicked her gaze over to him and folded her arms across her chest.

"I think I earned their trust or something." They entered a building that gave her some sense of security. She was still concerned about the building falling through the clouds, but no more afraid than she was walking around outside.

The first thing she saw upon entering was a tall, muscular man wearing camouflage. He had a buzz cut and pale blue eyes that looked like they could tear her apart. He was standing guard in front of a door attached to a glass wall that covered the entire area. Behind the glass were millions upon millions of winged creatures that resembled fairies. They were striking at the walls and struggling to break free, but their attacks did nothing.

Timmy pointed at them and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Those are Anti-Fairies." Trina frowned at a fairy behind the wall that wasn't moving, only watching with a stern gaze. He looked near identical to Cosmo and stood with his back erect and his jaw strong. "They're sworn enemies of the fairies here. I think it goes to say there was a war a long time ago, the fairies were once trapped behind those walls."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah." He moved his hands behind his back and raised his eyebrows. Trina made eye contact with Cosmo's lookalike and saw him frown at her. A look of pity came over his face, then he turned away. "The Anti's were once prominent here, this was their home, after all, since the beginning of time."

They walked up to the window as Cosmo and Wanda approached the muscular man. Timmy put a hand on the glass and narrowed his eyes at the Anti's inside. "Fairies were enslaved, and finally after millions of years of captivity…One fairy found a way to escape. He went to earth and got help of a human, brought him here to pull that lever." Timmy pointed to the lever near the door and Trina took a deep breath.

"What's so important about a human pulling the lever?"

"Only a human can touch it, that was the magic placed by the leader of the Anti's. The fairy that escaped managed to kill the leader of the Anti's, then released all of the captive fairies. There was a war that lasted for several years, and all of the surviving Anti's were placed into captivity here."

It was quite the story, though Trina got the sense that there was something more to it. As she studied the heavy lever, she could feel a compelling urge to give it a pull, but she knew better than to do such a crime. "What happened to the leader of the fairies?" She glanced up and saw Timmy point to the man that was now talking to Cosmo and Wanda. Her heart stopped in place as this military-like creature turned his pale eyes upon her and the skin around his eyes wrinkled while his eyebrows dipped down in the middle.

"Jorgen is the leader of the fairies. He's the one that escaped and saved all the fairies, according to Cosmo and Wanda." She wasn't sure what the fairies were talking about since they were being so quiet in their conversation, but the way they were looking at her and at Timmy was disconcerting.

Cosmo's lookalike turned his head back to her and waved his hand forward. She approached him and watched as he rose to eye level. "We are not the bad guys." He spoke in a hurried, but grave tone. "We were created to protect Earth. Do not trust anything those fairies tell you…we are not 'Anti-Fairies', we are Guardians."

Her chest expanded slowly and she looked over to Timmy, who was now watching the fairies chat amongst themselves. She released her breath and glanced back to the lookalike. "What? Guardians?"

"When something goes well for a city, or even an individual…who do you think it is?" The lookalike spread his arms out and furrowed his brow at her. "When you feel confident about having done something, or when you feel like there's a guiding light leading you down the right path, what do you think that is?" Trina pressed her lips together and shrugged. "When somebody talks about a guardian angel looking over them, would you like to know what that means?"

"Sure?"

"Look at us now…" The creature pointed out to the mass of creatures and scoffed. "Twisted by the fairy's magic, forced to look the way we look, and thrown into captivity with the fall of our leader. This is not our true form, we are guardian angels. Not the angels of heaven, but guardians sent to protect a city-sent to protect humans from demons and creatures that are mythical for a reason."

Fear gripped at her trembling heart and she approached the glass slowly, resting her palm gently onto it. "What reason is that?" She felt a hand on her back and looked over to see Timmy beside her, looking in curiously. Cosmo's lookalike closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.

"Creatures that are mythical have been deemed dangerous to the human realm. They're evil, sinister, twisted creatures that serve only to destroy. The guardians, us, have kept these creatures in holy prisons."

The look alike frowned and clenched his fists. "There are mythical creatures that have roamed earth for millions of years as well, as the chief demon of the underworld is constantly making new creations. That is why guardians are meant to stand base at all of Earth's cities, to capture and lock up these demons before they plague the world…the fairy escaped when we were bringing a prisoner in to transport, we did not catch him as he was able to change his shape in ways that no other fairy has ever done."

She crossed her arms and tilted her head to the right. "So, if what you're saying is true, then what's the big plan?" The Anti-Fairy closed his hands up and turned his eyes over to the nearby fairies.

"The holy prison that held the fairies was the weakest of all holy prisons. It had yet to be secured truly, so they were the mythical creatures that escaped. They want power, and they search for magic potentials that will become like they are-and these potentials will be strong enough to break the locks on all of the holy prisons that keep the other mythical creatures at bay, and with the guardians locked up…we cannot stop them."

She felt her heart drop and moved her hand up over her mouth, gasping softly as the creature lowered himself a bit and turned to face all of the other Anti's. "Earth will die because we failed our job. Do not listen to the fairies and what they tell you, they are the world's biggest con artists."

"What is going on here?" A voice bellowed. Trina jumped away from the glass and spun around to see Jorgen standing near them. Cosmo and Wanda were hovering behind him, both watching with curious eyes. "Do not talk to the Anti-Fairies, they spew only lies."

Trina stuttered to speak. She didn't know what to believe, though the idea of guardian angels having kept mythical creatures at bay would explain why she'd never seen these creatures before. "Yeah they called themselves guardians," Timmy chuckled, "Strange." Guardian Angels made more sense than fairies granting your every wish, though Trina had never believed much in guardian angels with the amount of pain she'd gone through in the last several years. "We're done talking to them…"

"Good." Jorgen placed a hand to Timmy's shoulder and started to smile. "We would like for you to take a test." Timmy shrugged. Trina watched as the fairies led him away, she hesitated to follow and glanced back to the lookalike behind the glass wall.

"I'll say this much." Cosmo's lookalike turned his eyes up to her as she spoke with a strong sense of severity. "I don't know much about fairies, and I certainly don't know much about guardian angels or mythical creation…but if you're trying to mislead or lie to me, I've had enough liars in my life to know when to walk away."

There was a strange truth to his eyes, but a sadness that also overtook him. "A guardian never lies. They cannot, and will not lie." The Anti-fairy rose back into the air and locked his arms behind his back. His brow furrowed and the corners of his lips sank into his jaw. "Katrina Vega?" She clutched her chest and parted her lips with a gasp.

"How do you know my name?"

"We know everything about you, about that boy Timmy-even your sister and her friends." She took a small step back, her lips trembled and she felt a heaviness in her eyes. "Seven billion humans alive in the world today, well over two and a half billion towns, villages, and cities. A guardian for each person, a guardian for each city. You will never see us unless we take a form, or are given a form as the fairies have done with us…but you can feel our presence."

"I haven't felt _anything_."

The creature's eyes closed and he dropped his head momentarily. "I know. That is because while you had a guardian, that guardian was one of the many that were eventually sought out and found by these creatures…" The creature pulled his arm back and motioned to the right, his fingers snapped and Trina waited.

After several seconds, a small and purple female with dark wings hovered over. She had soft brown, shoulder length hair, and a face that strongly resembled her own. The girl's lips curved into a smile, but her eyes held a distinct sorrow.

Trina moved her hand to the glass and felt her breath being drawn from her lungs as the anti-fairy extended her own hand and placed it on the other side of the glass. "I'm sorry," the creature spoke, "I was supposed to watch over you, to protect you from these things. The fairies have hunters that seek out the remaining guardians…You can find shelter, but be wary of those fairies."

Trina pulled her hand away and took a step back. She shook her head fervently and brought a hand up to cover her lips. "No, I don't believe you. You're evil, like Jorgen and Cosmo and Wanda say."

"No. A guardian is your conscience, the voice in the back of your head that tells you right from wrong. The voice that warns you before touching your hand to a flame…reminding you that it will burn your hand. While you decide what path you go on, we are the voice that makes you take a second look before making a decision. We are not 'wish-granters' like the fairies, or genies, because we are the ones that enable you to go for what you want, what you need, and finding your own path to happiness and success. Fairies are deceivers, not guardians."

"If you're so powerful, how did fairies manage to capture you?"

"It was the human that Jorgen deceived." Trina furrowed her brow as the creature sighed heavily. "He deceived the human into making a wish, wishing that he was more powerful than the enemy...that the fairies could defeat us. The human made the wish. The fairies that bested us are gone, save for Jorgen, casualties in his war efforts to find humans with enough potential to free all the other mythical beasts locked up. Many guardians perished defending the humans, such as the guardian of Dimmsdale. Releasing us now, we could very likely win the war as there are not many powerful fairies left."

"Then what happened to the human?"

"Jorgen had no more use for him, the human perished at his hands."

Her stomach swirled with the force of anger and disgust, but she was confused as well. If she believed this, then she would believe the fairies were evil. Wanda and Cosmo had been helping, so how could she believe the word of their enemy? "Stop talking. I won't buy into this." Time was needed for her to figure out who or what to believe, but for now, she didn't want this stress on her mind. She turned away from them, ignoring their forlorn expressions, then hurried in the direction that Timmy had been taken. She didn't know what test they wanted him to do, and she didn't care, she just wanted to get the hell away from this strange world.

* * *

So we have two stories, one that has been told by the fairies and the other told by the apparent guardians. As the reader you know the fairies are the villains, but the characters are not aware. What do you think is so important about Timmy that the fairies would risk everything to bring him-and Trina-into their domain? Could he have enough potential to be the one to break the holy prisons once turned into one of them? Then what of Trina? Should Wanda succeed in concealing all traces of her outside life, Trina's life would end in order to make Timmy a fairy. There's a lot to think about after this chapter.


End file.
